Like Them
by w0man-1n-r3d
Summary: When the Mainframe orders new upgrades for all programmes, Smith is forced to update with them. From there, not only is he indelibly changed, but his destiny is revealed to him. This takes place before the first Matrix movie. FINISHED!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Agents Smith, Brown, Jones, Morpheus, Trinity, et al. and the wonderful world of the Matrix are property of their respective copyright holders.  
  
Like Them  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Well, are you coming?" Agent Brown asked his superior officer, looking at him through his dark lenses, despite the bleak, dim fluorescent lighting of the office they were in. Agent Smith, who had been generally ignoring the conversation that had been taking place between Brown and Jones, realized the question was directed at him and looked up from the computer terminal he was staring at.  
  
"Explain to me again precisely why I would want to go to a social event?"  
  
"The Mainframe has dictated that we programmes act and behave as humans do in a quest for further understanding and blending into the Matrix. I don't see why I need to keep reminding you this." Brown's tone was slightly annoyed and he paid for it through an uncomfortable twinge in his earpiece.  
  
"Programmes are 'marrying' other programmes and having 'children' programmes. We've all been given human images and tasks to perform in the Matrix for a reason. The Keymaker makes keys, you know this. The Merovigian controls programmes. The Architect constructs the Matrix. We patrol the Matrix, and so on. We must obey, Smith." Jones also received an even more uncomfortable twinge in his earpiece.  
  
"Nothing in the directive from the Mainframe has specified that we must go to these events. Just that we must do our jobs and make an effort to blend in. When I am not on an assignment I prefer to spend my time here monitoring their movements. As I wish you both would as well." Smith regarded his subordinates and shook his head. They were both very capable, however he knew that his software was superior in every way.  
  
He didn't choose to download the optional updates from the Mainframe directing human interactions and customs, as he felt they would jeopardize his work. And if there was one thing that Smith loved, it was his work. The fear in a Resistant's eye when they realised that Smith was on their track. Dodging their feeble attempts at shooting him and busting their fragile limbs when they dared attacking him. Smith loved what he was - a machine. Programming built for one thing - controlling a population, preserving his survival, and the survival of other programmes and machines. He had no time or desire to "understand" them, or learn their customs. Of course he got lonely sometimes, being in this world was such a drain on him, but he wasn't going to rest or weaken until he had won. Not them, He. Smith. He was leading his own personal war on Resistants, and was not going to tolerate any weakness on his team, especially in himself.  
  
"You have not downloaded the updates, have you?" Jones winced as soon as he spoke the words.  
  
"No, and I have no need to. They won't add to my job in any way. I updated three months ago with the latest combat training and communication protocols." Smith glanced back at his screen. No activity. The Resistants were quiet for once.  
  
"You do not like it but the Mainframe wants us to act like them, Smith. You cannot fight it." Brown said. He removed his earpiece ahead of his discipline to avoid it.  
  
"I will act like them the day I mistakenly download a heart instead of a programme upgrade. Do you have anything more important to waste my time with? And replace your earpiece, before I do it for you." Jones and Brown exchanged looks and Brown quickly reset his communications link.  
  
"Yes, there has been a change in the intelligence department. The old programme was an informant and deleted, as you know. It has been replaced."  
  
"Have they moved intelligence?" Smith asked.  
  
"No. It's still on the 15th floor."  
  
"Excellent." For the longest time Smith had wondered why the Resistants always seemed to have prior knowledge of him. He conducted an experiment of his own as a part of a private investigation his team had been working on in rooting out informants, and discovered that the old woman who controlled the files in Intelligence had been tipping off targets on the basis of the requests that Smith and his team were making for files. They reported this data to the Mainframe and promptly, the woman was deleted. After seven days the Mainframe had managed to produce a replacement.  
  
Accessing the Mainframe, Smith discovered that three programmes were needed as they were monitoring each other openly, a system of checks and balances to sure up a potential weak spot in their operations. While one person could be a Resistance target, with two others watching and checking over their work, there was no feasible way for things to slip past. Smith approved of this, as the structure of the Agent clusters demonstrated, a group of three complimentary programmes work well together and operate at high levels of efficiency. Some would say at maximum, however Smith tended to disagree with this. He found that, in himself, he worked best alone, unfettered by Jones' stringent adherence to protocol and Brown's ineptitude and need for constant instruction. There was no friendship between the three agents, three sentient programs trained for one purpose: rooting out and fighting the revolution within the Matrix. Much like their counterparts, the Sentinels in the real world, they act upon search and destroy. Ultimately governed by the mainframe, as all programs within the Matrix were, they were given a certain degree of autonomy to act at all times within the best interest of the Matrix. To become more like those humans, those viruses that he despised, would make him less efficient and able to do his job properly.  
  
When Smith looked up again, he realised that Brown and Jones had left his office. Peering at his monitor he noticed a new line of code appearing.  
  
[Mainframe log call: carrier line anomaly]  
  
[Log recording: trace programme running]  
  
[start] [log]  
[copy to file 0.040234/smith, jones, brown]  
[copy to file 232.3942/intelligence]  
  
[Trace executed: 0.2043241 seconds Time of trace 2138]  
  
[+44 214 293 5924 United States: New York North America Matrix  
Construct]  
  
Ibrox,  
  
Feeling like you're not awake, yet not asleep? Can't put your finger  
on what's real? I know what you're going through. It's time to wake  
up.  
  
Tomorrow you will go to work. Expect a visitor.  
  
Morpheus  
  
/copy]  
  
[/log]  
  
[/end]  
  
This had been the break Smith had been waiting for. For months the rebel they called Morpheus had stayed out of the Matrix, and Smith was wondering what had happened to him. Those hacker aliases the rebels used were so tedious. Delusions of grandeur manifested by small human minds. Instead of usually calling a request through, some form of curiosity about the newly created programs directed his decision to make his way up to intelligence to obtain the details on Ibrox, and then the hunt would begin.  
  
* * *  
  
Danielle looked around the small table in the back of their office. Hundreds and hundreds of files in endless rows of filing cabinets and it was up to her and her sisters to look after. Every detail of every human in the Matrix was contained within these files. When a request came through, from an Agent, or another programme directly responsible for dealing with humans, it was their job to locate the file, and route the information to the correct recipient, via a scanning machine, then replace it correctly. With billions of individuals in the Matrix, and hundreds of requests coming in daily from Agents all over the globe operating simultaneously in the nine Matrix constructs that made up the planet Earth to a human, it was a difficult job, but one that the sisters had been programmed, born to do.  
  
"I can't believe we've been here half a day and we've still seen no Agents!" Danielle's sister, Patricia, twirled one of her long crimson curls around a finger, and leaned against the counter where the request line and a few back issues of Country Quilting were left, obviously left over from the last person to do this job. She was chewing bubble gum and occasionally blew a bubble that popped with a loud snap.  
  
"Hardly surprising, they all seem to just call in their requests!" Anne- Marie shouted from somewhere within the stacks.  
  
"I hear the Agents are so handsome!" Patricia extracted a nail file from somewhere and started filing her nails.  
  
"I wonder if they're coming to the club tomorrow night!" Anne-Marie appeared around the corner from the stacks and placed a file on the scanner. After typing in the routing code the file was scanned almost instantly and then she went to put it back. "Apparently they all wear dark sunglasses all the time, are impeccably dressed and are fully functional, if you know what I mean!" Patricia and Anne-Marie giggled hysterically. Danielle rolled her eyes heavenward. Sometimes her sisters could be so crude. Danielle started typing the log report for the file Anne-Marie just processed.  
  
"Yesterday I met this really handsome guy. An engineer, but the payoff is that he's been around since the first Matrix." Patricia said, snapping her gum.  
  
"You know what they say, if they're not from six, they don't have a dic." Anne-Marie shouted.  
  
"Anne-Marie." Danielle began, in a lame attempt to stifle her bawdy sister's joke. Just then she heard a bell from the front of the file room. "I suppose I'll get it."  
  
"Yeah, and tell whoever it is to go away! Phone through like everyone else does!" Patricia said, leafing through Country Quilting and rolling her eyes. Danielle sighed and ran her hand through her platinum bob, smoothing the gentle waves in her hair. She straightened her skirt and walked through the files towards the front desk. When she emerged she paused for a second. It was an Agent.  
  
"Can I help you?" she asked.  
  
Smith, slightly annoyed at the wait to be served, frowned at her. "I believe the intention of creating three programmes to do the job that was formerly done by one programme was to increase efficiency, not to make download times even longer."  
  
"Sorry Sir," Danielle said. "I'm afraid my sisters are a bit distracted from their work at present."  
  
"You are not humans, you know. You have no need for coffee breaks."  
  
"I know Sir. I am sorry."  
  
"Who is it?" Patricia emerged from behind Danielle and took in the form of the striking Agent, speaking to Danielle. "Well hello there! You must be an Agent! We're new!" Patricia extended her hand, and shouted, "Anne- MARIE! There's an AGENT here!" When Patricia looked back at the Agent, she was disappointed to see that not only had he not taken her hand, but his lips were curling and his nose was wrinkling like someone had broken wind in his presence.  
  
".And the mainframe thought it was a good thing to become more like them." he muttered under his breath. Danielle heard it and started to giggle to herself, which slightly startled Smith. He turned to her and began his request.  
  
"I need the file on the person who goes by the alias Ibrox." Danielle typed the name into her PDA's database and almost instantly the name came up. "His name is William Thatcher," she told him. Just as Anne-Marie was appearing from the stacks, Danielle turned to her and said, "Obtain Thatcher, William Samuel. Upload it to." She turned to the Agent.  
  
"Your name and identifier, Sir?"  
  
"Smith. 0.040234.1"  
  
Anne-Marie eyed the agent and her mouth sort of hung open, "How soon do you want it?" she asked.  
  
Smith, who was becoming ever-more fed up with this trio of idiots, snarled at her, "If I don't have it within 30 seconds I will eliminate you. How does that strike you?"  
  
Anne-Marie became very pale and shot off into the stacks. Patricia followed as quickly. Only Danielle remained.  
  
"I am sorry about them, Sir. I have made suggestions to the Mainframe on potential upgrades however for most of us non-enforcement programmes the current secondary objective is one of socialization and assimilation and not efficiency. The Mainframe wants us to fit in as much as possible."  
  
Smith could understand exactly where she was coming from, however, he felt it somehow beneath him to be making conversation with someone who under- ranked him. Just then he felt the information being uploaded through his earpiece into his consciousness. His eyes closed halfway as the information jolted its' way through his neural circuits.  
  
Smith nodded and took a step back from the counter as the download finished. "What is your name?" he asked.  
  
"Danielle, Sir."  
  
"I will ask for you from now on when I put through a request, at least until the upgrades are finished on your counterparts. I feel it is the only way anything will be done around here to my satisfaction."  
  
Danielle smiled slightly, appreciating the complement for what it was, "Thank you Sir."  
  
Smith turned to leave. However something strange inside of him compelled him to turn around and look at her again. He didn't understand this impulse that was taking over him, and for once his face was riddled with confusion.  
  
"I like...what you're wearing," he said, almost unbelieving the words as they flew out of his mouth. Before she could thank him he flew out of the office in embarrassment.  
  
Danielle looked at the space the Agent had previously occupied for a moment. Then she rubbed an imaginary smudge from the desk with the sleeve of her black suit jacket and returned back into the stacks to assist her sisters. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
"Well, he was nothing like what I expected!" Patricia sighed and closed her eyes, trying to change the Matrix to make Country Quilting into Cosmopolitan. "Arrogant, nasty, cold, and totally rude!" When she opened her eyes she realised that she turned it into Playgirl instead. Darting her eyes around to make sure Anne-Marie or Danielle the prude didn't see, she slipped it into her handbag.  
  
"They're not supposed to be nice, Patricia. They're supposed to be efficient." Danielle sat down at her computer and logged Smith's request.  
  
"Well I reckon Mr. Nasty's going to be in for a rude awakening!" Anne- Marie giggled as she emerged with a request from Agent O'Leary in Dublin.  
  
Danielle looked up from her screen. "What do you mean?"  
  
"This came through right before I did his file." Anne-Marie handed a printout to Danielle.  
  
MEMO: From the Mainframe signed Beta-Alpha-Beta-1001010000  
TO: All processing officers  
Class 1 Urgency  
RE: Human Upgrades  
  
All processing officers are required to upload File 0.2014.3 Human  
Link along with any documents being sent to requestors. This file is  
a patch that will facilitate the necessity of downloading Required  
Update Version 3.4 Human Interactions. It has come to our attention  
that various Field Operatives have refused to download these Required  
Updates and we must thereby necessitate their installation across the  
board. Your compliance with this is mandatory.  
  
"So basically you've uploaded a virus into his file that we just sent him?" Danielle raised her eyebrows at her sister.  
  
"Yup. Mainframe orders, sis." Anne-Marie laughed, "Maybe it'll remove the stick from his ass."  
  
Patricia snickered, "Maybe that's all he likes!"  
  
"He wouldn't take your hand, Patti! You might be right!" Anne-Marie started to howl.  
  
"I am sure that Agent Smith was just off put by your approach. You can be terribly forward." Danielle glared at her two sisters. Agent Smith couldn't be gay. Danielle was sure of it. He was just professional and to the point. She admired that. Besides, in a thought that she hoped her sisters wouldn't be privy to, she really hoped he wasn't. He was exceptionally handsome.  
  
"Aw, loosen up, Danni. We heard that little .complement. he paid you on the way out the door." Patricia waggled her long red-tipped finger at her straight-laced sister.  
  
"Probably just that virus you implanted in him taking effect." Danielle turned back to her screen. "I understand why someone like him wouldn't want the human upgrades. It would get in his way."  
  
"Oh, come on! You mean to tell me that if he approached you, you wouldn't jump at the chance?" Anne-Marie flipped off Danielle's screen to get her full attention.  
  
"Agent Smith." Danielle began, trying to compose her thoughts. "He wouldn't approach a woman. And even if he would, he wouldn't approach me. We're below his station. You know this."  
  
"Whatever, Danni. We think you've got a crush on him." Patricia laughed at the blush growing in Danielle's cheeks. "Why else could you be concealing your thoughts from us?" Patti pointed to the com links in each of their ears. Danielle had removed hers and it had been dangling off of her shoulder for the past 45 minutes.  
  
"Because I need to get on with my work and don't need your chatter breaking my concentration!" Danielle flipped her screen back on and tried to get down to business. Anne-Marie flipped it off again and Danielle turned back around, glaring at her fiercely.  
  
"Well, may I advise you to put it back in your ear because we need to be privy to everything you're doing there, sister," Anne-Marie said, less jovially, "Mainframe orders, as you know."  
  
Danielle sighed and reset her earpiece. She turned around again and flipped her screen on. Patricia and Anne-Marie were quiet for once as they resumed their work, except for the occasional Smith joke directed towards Danielle through their comm.  
  
'It's going to be a long afternoon,' Danielle thought to herself.  
  
* * *  
  
The black Lexus silently slid through the city streets. The outdoor noise of pedestrians, traffic and city were completely muted in this fine automobile, giving the three Agents who rode in it a sense of tranquillity. They were on their way to intercept William Thatcher, alias Ibrox, a known hacker who had recently became a resistant target, at his home before Morpheus had a chance to reach him.  
  
"I have been hearing about the sisters who are working in intelligence," Agent Jones said.  
  
"What have you heard?" asked Brown  
  
"Gerald the engineer who works in the basement told me that he spoke to the one called Patricia this morning. She was very beautiful, he said, and 'stacked', whatever that means. But when he found out he was from version 1, she became rude and walked away from him."  
  
"I feel bad for version ones," Brown said. Jones nodded in agreement.  
  
"And what were you doing in the basement that would require a conversation with Gerald, Jones?" Smith asked, regarding his subordinate in the rear- view mirror.  
  
"Well, sir." Jones began, and then paused.  
  
"Yes?" Smith prompted, dragging out the vowels of the word.  
  
"In accordance with the latest updates on human interactions, the Mainframe suggested that we learn to develop relationships."  
  
"So you're developing a relationship with Gerald?" Smith asked, disdainfully.  
  
Jones hesitated and then responded, "Not exactly, sir."  
  
"Then what were you doing there?"  
  
"The Mainframe advised that one of the ways to learn how to relate to people was to first learn how to relate to animals."  
  
Smith was silent. Behind his glasses he rolled his eyes heavenwards.  
  
"What kind of pet do you have, Jones?" Brown asked, interested.  
  
"I have a feline domestics. It's name is Agent Cat. Since we are not allowed homes like other programmes are, I keep it in the basement."  
  
Smith fought the urge to turn around and shoot Jones between the sunglasses. "Why aren't we allowed homes?" Brown asked Smith.  
  
"The Mainframe leaves that decision down to individual agent units. The senior officer decides which is the most appropriate environment for his team to spend their time."  
  
"So you won't let us?" Brown asked, forlorned.  
  
"Because we operate in the centre of one of the busiest Resistant target areas it is not wise to have my team members scattered all over the city cleaning up litter boxes and taking out their garbage when they are needed to clean up more important things."  
  
Smith could hear through his comm. link two simultaneous requests being made for transfers to less active pockets and almost as instantly the denial coming back, screaming bold red letters across all of their brains.  
  
"Now that was stupid, wasn't it?" Smith asked them both. Brown and Jones were silent.  
  
They rode in silence for a few blocks. Brown was the first to speak again. "There are three sisters working in intelligence, aren't there?"  
  
"Three incompetents," Smith mumbled under his breath.  
  
"Why would you say that?" Brown asked.  
  
"I met them."  
  
"What were they like?" Jones asked. He leaned forward, extremely interested.  
  
"Women," Smith said. He signalled to cross a lane of traffic but was cut off by the change of lights. Again he stifled his urge to shoot something.  
  
"What are women like?" said Brown. "I haven't been in contact with many, at least, many non-resistant women."  
  
"Rude, loud, big-haired, lazy, sloppy, gossipy. shall I go on?" Smith edged the car out into traffic.  
  
"Not all women are like that, Smith," Jones said.  
  
At that moment for some reason the image of that other woman appeared in Smith's mind. Not the bimbo, and not the stupid brunette. The blonde with a modicum of intelligence. Danielle, Smith seemed to recall, was her name. The one that he made an ass of himself in front of. He had deleted the files on that experience, not wishing to feel embarrassment if he ever came across her before, or so he thought. Why was he thinking about it now? For some reason the situation started to replay in his mind. He tried issuing commands to make it desist but it was as futile as pressing [CTRL]+[ALT]+[DELETE] on a PC running Windows. He then attempted a self- diagnostic but when the estimated time of completion was over 3 hours, he aborted to do it later. It had been a while since he took the time to defrag himself. The Mainframe recommended that all Agents defrag and run checkself.exe once a week but Smith couldn't be bothered to do it. It smacked him of weakness, which he hated. Only humans were weak.  
  
"Are you going to proceed?" Brown asked him, interrupting his train of thought. He had been sat at the junction for five minutes.  
  
Smith glared out of the corner of his eye at Brown and sent him a little jolt via his earpiece to let him know who was in charge. He barged through traffic aggressively, cutting off oncoming traffic and against the light and proceeded to William Thatcher's apartment. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Agents Smith, Brown, Jones, Morpheus, Trinity, et al. and the wonderful world of the Matrix are property of their respective copyright holders.  
  
Small warning: If you don't like strong language, read no further. Swearing ahead.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Ibrox had noticed that something odd was going on the moment his phone rang, stopped mid-ring, and then rang again. He shook his head and figured that it must have been residual from the LSD trip he took a few days ago. Running his hand through his short spiky hair, he rubbed the back of his neck to dispel the tension he was feeling there. Contemplating taking a valium to help him sleep, he glanced back at his terminal only to see the following message where the website Something Awful should have been.  
  
Ibrox, get out now. Run.  
  
Ibrox stared at the black screen with green writing on it. His mouth hung open slightly and he squinted.  
  
"What the fuc..?" he started to say.  
  
Just then, a knock interrupted him. Shaking his head, he opened the door, "Yah, what man?" he asked, not looking until it was too late.  
  
"Mr. Thatcher."  
  
Ibrox's eyes went wide, regarding the three Agents standing in front of him. A wave of fear and nausea swept over him. He took a small step backwards.  
  
"We are here to take you for some questioning."  
  
Before Ibrox could emit the scream that was building in his diaphragm, two sets of hands had him, arms restraining him, almost lifting his feet off of the ground, bruising his skin with their vice-like grips, and were carrying him out of his scummy, dingy apartment and through the hallway.  
  
* * *  
  
"They've got him, Trinity." Morpheus was looking over Tank's shoulder at the Matrix console of the Nebuchadnezzar. "Three of them have taken him before we even had a chance."  
  
Trinity shook her head. "Shit. How could they have? Wasn't our informant supposed to let us know?"  
  
Dozer checked the server again for any messages sent from the Agency. "Nothing here. Nothing for a while, actually."  
  
"What are we gonna do?" Trinity asked.  
  
"They can't know his significance. They can't know that he knows The One yet. We need him to get to The One." Morpheus looked up at the green code cascading down the screens. He saw clearly the three agent codes, and wondered why they weren't programmed to be identical. The programmers of the Matrix had seen it fit to give them each individual qualities and physical features, and it even looked like personalities despite the symmetrical uniforms they wore and unison of purpose.  
  
"They'll get his name through his known associates. They have all of that data in their files."  
  
"Then they already know his name."  
  
"We need him to be kept alive," Trinity said, punching numbers into her screen.  
  
"What are you proposing, Trinity?" Morpheus looked at her.  
  
"Ambush them. Keep Ibrox in a safe house until we can talk to him."  
  
Cypher, who had been rewiring the EMP to make it more powerful, had been listening in on their conversation. "Oh that'll work, Trin. Just drop in on them from out of the sky."  
  
Trinity looked at him, "I don't see why not. Have you got a better idea?"  
  
Cypher held up his hands, "No, no, easy. Relax. I'm just saying, that's all. Down girl."  
  
Trinity glared at him. "Then get loaded up."  
  
* * *  
  
Trinity, Cypher, Switch, Apoc and Mouse entered the Matrix in the Heart O' The City motel, almost on the top floor. They ran to the top of the building and looked down on the street below. Traffic was slow, as it was early-morning rush hour in the city. Trinity marvelled at the fact the Matrix saw fit to put a crisp chill on the whitish-blue of the breeze that whipped around the buildings at that altitude, emphasizing the silvery white glass of the skyscrapers that surrounded them, bore down on them, making everything feel almost claustrophobic. She scanned the street for what would be an agent's car.  
  
Cypher opened his phone and called in to Tank, "There's about a zillion black cars on this street. Which one's theirs?"  
  
"They're three blocks away in the right lane of traffic." Tank said, pointing on his screen.  
  
Trinity turned to Mouse and Switch. "Go down there and see if you can find them. Try to look inconspicuous."  
  
Trinity peered over the edge of the building. Apoc turned to her. "Do you think we can do this?"  
  
Trinity looked at him through her dark glasses. "Anything is possible. Just remember, the objective is to distract them and get them to chase you while Cypher and I deliver him to the Oracle."  
  
Trinity's cell phone rang. She flipped it open. Switch's voice filled her ear. "They're on the corner of the building across the street from you."  
  
"When Apoc lands, start shooting from their left side. Mouse will start on the right. Just enough to piss them off. Then run."  
  
"Right," Switch said.  
  
"And don't hurt Ibrox," Trinity reminded her.  
  
Switch hung up. Trinity pointed. "That's the one. Wait until they're directly underneath us."  
  
Apoc took a deep breath. A large gap in traffic formed in front and behind of the Agents' car, almost as if the Matrix sensed that something was about to happen. As the car moved forward, Apoc closed his eyes and started to fall.  
  
* * *  
  
The occupants of the Lexus were silent as they slid through the crowded city streets. The backseat window was open about a centimetre as their prisoner had soiled himself out of fear. Smith, at that moment, was glad that he had the ability to turn off his scent programme. Every so often Ibrox let out a sob or a cry. Smith wondered how this pathetic crop of viruses could ever have created something so perfect, so superior in every way, as AI was. It was no wonder the machines rebelled. Nothing should be forced to do the bidding of these weak, small, pathetic, insignificant vermin, the least of all superior god-like creatures such as he reckoned himself to be.  
  
He saw the little one out of the corner of his eye. Skittering along the sidewalk. The rebels called him Mouse. For a millisecond Smith allowed himself to feel amusement at such an appropriate moniker. Before he had time to instruct Jones, who was sitting to the right side of him, to draw his weapon and shoot the little rodent, he could hear the bang before the roof of their car caved in on them directly in the centre, a glitch in the Matrix synchronization. For a moment it seemed the car and the road were pulled down into the earth as if they were liquid and then they snapped back onto the pavement, the car a mangled wreck. Gunfire began from all sides of them. Smith, Jones and Brown were on the street, identifying their targets and returning bullets, all the while dodging those coming from the resistants.  
  
The one on top of the car drew Smith's attention. He jumped up on the wreck as Apoc back-flipped off of it, onto the roof of the car directly behind and then onto the trunk, where he began firing at Smith. Horns were honking in all directions and a small fire had started in the wreck of the Agents' car. Jones had narrowed in on Switch, walking towards her. Switch began to run towards the pre-arranged exit, with him hot on her heels, dodging pedestrians and traffic. Brown had already started to chase Mouse, who had jumped down into an open manhole cover and was running through the sewer lines.  
  
Apoc noticed the fire and knew that Trinity and Cypher wouldn't have very long to get Ibrox out. He jumped, this time onto the roof of an articulated lorry turning the corner, and only managed to catch the edge of the truck. Smith found two window washers working on the building above, and transformed one. He jumped down onto the roof of the lorry and walked to the edge where Apoc was dangling.  
  
Looking up, Apoc saw the tips of shiny black shoes appear over the edge of the lorry, millimetres from where his hands were. He heard the Desert Eagle cock and jumped backwards from the lorry and caught a fire escape ladder. Bullets whizzed by his ear as he ran up the ladder onto the roof of an apartment building.  
  
* * *  
  
Trinity and Cypher had been watching the whole scene from the roof of the motel. Once Smith had rounded the corner they jumped down beside the car. Trinity peered in the wreckage. Ibrox was bleeding from a deep gash on his forehead and his arm was bent at a funny angle but he was still conscious.  
  
"Come with us." Trinity said, yanking the car door off of its hinge and throwing it to one side.  
  
"Who the fuck are you?" Ibrox screamed.  
  
"We're friends. Here to rescue you. Now come on before they get back." Cypher had hijacked a motorcycle as Trinity pulled more metal and wreckage out of the way.  
  
Ibrox was shaking as he tried to stand. Trinity pulled him up standing and got on the bike. Cypher had to assist him getting on.  
  
"Hold on tight, she's a hell of a driver," Cypher said. Trinity glared at him, and then shot off down the road, weaving through traffic.  
  
Cypher watched them leave. He slipped an envelope out of his pocket and left it in the wreckage. Then he went back to the phone in the motel to exit.  
  
* * *  
  
Smith watched as the bullet missed Apoc's head by milliseconds as he disappeared into the telephone. Lowering his Desert Eagle almost mechanically, he emitted a low growl, teeth bared, and cracked his neck. Why is it that every human that he occupied seemed to have bad posture and a skeleton out of alignment? He listened through his comm. link to hear how Jones and Brown were doing.  
  
They both reported back that they were at the crash site, having lost their rebels and their captive. Smith growled again and clenched his fist tightly. He occupied a human close to the site and walked towards the wreckage. Brown handed Smith the envelope.  
  
Smith opened it and read the letter inside.  
  
I am sick of this life. Sick of this non-existence. I cannot stand  
this real world any longer. I want to go back in the Matrix. If you  
help me I will help you.  
  
I will prove I am serious. Ibrox is being held by the Oracle. While  
you cannot get him there, I will let you know when you can get him.  
Between the hours of 23:30 and 06:00 I am communications monitor on  
the Nebuchadnezzar. I will send out a transmission on the IP  
201.20.041.03 when I have further information.  
  
Cypher (Mr. Reagan, as you call me)  
  
"It seems as if Mr. Reagan has come to his senses," Smith said to Jones and Brown.  
  
"What shall we do in the meantime?" Brown asked.  
  
"Deploy a constant search for the whereabouts of the rogue programme Oracle. In the meantime we wait. And deploy the Sentinels for good measure." Smith smiled at his clever plan.  
  
"And what will we do with Mr. Reagan if he is serious?" Jones asked.  
  
"We will get him to give us the codes to the Zion mainframe," Smith said. "The war could be over soon."  
  
"And if he is bluffing?"  
  
"Regardless if he is bluffing or not, he will be killed. When, all depends on how useful he wishes to make himself to us." Smith crumpled the letter up into a ball and tossed it into the wreckage of the car. The three agents walked down the last block of street to the Agency building. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
Smith sat at his desk. The image of that woman, Danielle, had returned again, shortly after returning to the Agency, reminding him to run his self- diagnostic. It had almost completed, 2% to go. He felt the probing of his files, circuits, processes, nodes and hated it. It felt like an invasion.  
  
'Aaah,' Smith thought to himself, after it was finished. He processed the results.  
  
Checkdiag.exe results for /0.040234.1 Smith  
  
Memory Stability: Maximum Efficiency Recommendation: None  
  
Processor: 1.102 TB Recommendation: None  
  
Reactions: 02.1 MS Recommendation: None  
  
Operating System: Agent 6.2.4 Recommendation: Upgrade to 6.2.5  
Conflict with Operating System 6.2.4 - File 0.2014.3 Human Link has  
been uploaded. Recommendation: Upgrade operating system to Agent  
6.2.5 to complete File 0.20413 Human Link and stop system errors  
  
File System: Damaged: 3% Recommendation: Repair needed Urgency: Not  
  
Further Recommendations: 0.040234.1 Smith needs to perform the  
following:  
  
Download Agent 6.2.5 Downtime Required 480 Minutes for repair of file systems  
  
End Checkdiag.exe report  
  
Smith was enraged. What was File 0.2014.3 Human Link and when did he download it? He queried the Mainframe from his desktop computer, searching for information on File 0.2014.3 .  
  
He found one instance of it, a memo from the mainframe dated yesterday calling it a required upgrade and instructing all processing officers to upload it along with any file requests to all recipients.  
  
'That must have been it,' he thought to himself. 'Those stupid bitches uploaded a virus file into me. And what's more, the mainframe made them do it!' Smith was enraged. He understood why he was experiencing deletion glitches and repetitive memory lock cycles now. He wasn't going crazy. But he sure as hell wasn't going to download the updates and become as dopy as Jones and Brown had become. After getting back this afternoon, Smith had watched Jones and Brown play with Jones' cat. Smith wanted to play with it as well, in fact. He felt it would have made an excellent practice target however when he attempted it, Jones jumped in front of the bullet.  
  
'It was still satisfying,' Smith thought to himself. 'Pity that all Agents can regenerate after being hit by bullets, unlike most other programmes. I'd love to send those two cretins back to the Source for good.'  
  
He had to submit, however, they still performed this afternoon as well as usual. Neither of them hesitated to get stuck into the action, or thought twice about shooting resistants. At least those damn upgrades did not make them completely useless.  
  
Brown came into the office holding two identical black ties. "Which one do you think I should wear?"  
  
"Neither tie is any different from the one you have on," Smith said, exasperated.  
  
"Are you coming? You need to get ready."  
  
"I have already told you once, I am not going to a social event."  
  
Jones walked into the office. "The Mainframe says you are." He handed Smith a memo.  
  
MEMO: From the Mainframe signed Beta-Alpha-Beta-1001010000  
TO: 0.040234/Smith, Jones, Brown  
Class 1 Urgency  
RE: Human Upgrades  
  
As a part of your new secondary objections, Agent Team 0.040234 is  
requested to attend all social events scheduled within your Agency.  
It is a new requirement that all programmes attempt to assimilate and  
blend in with humanity to accomplish their primary objectives, and  
these events are instructional and mandatory, as they are simulations  
of human events and interactions. Necessary information on how to  
perform at these events are found within update 6.2.5, subdirectory F,  
folder "Social". Reading and reviewing this file is essential.  
  
Any programme found not complying will be taken away for  
reconditioning and forced upgrading.  
  
Smith rolled his eyes. "Fine."  
  
Brown and Jones smiled at each other. Smith grimaced.  
  
* * *  
  
"Danielle you HAVE to go!" Patricia squealed at her perpetually boring sister.  
  
"I have no desire to go to a smoke-filled, loud venue, drinking that rubbish that humans call 'alcohol' and listening to that cacophonic nonsense they call music."  
  
"But Smith might be there!" Patricia exclaimed. "You know you want him!"  
  
Danielle gritted her teeth. For the past two days all she had heard was 'Smith this' and 'Smith that'. In her opinion Smith had gone from a superior officer to something else entirely, fuelled by her sisters' constant ribbing and smutty innuendos.  
  
"Patricia, how many times do I have to tell you." Danielle started.  
  
"I know, I know, you have absolutely no interest in him," she laughed. "Try telling your cheeks that."  
  
"He will be there. I heard the Mainframe ordered him." Anne-Marie came out of the bedroom of their shared apartment wearing the tiniest black patent leather Versace miniskirt, with buckles on the side, and matching corseted jacket, that exposed her taut, pierced midriff. The jacket was left open to expose her black patent leather bra-top that had a buckle in the middle and on each strap. She had a pair of five-inch heeled black patent leather boots on that went to her knee. She was wearing an oversized pair of black sunglasses and had her brown hair tousled around her face in waves.  
  
Patricia had chosen a Gucci nude-coloured silk and satin corset dress that was strapless and looked like either a miracle or the Matrix was the only thing keeping it in place over her ample bosom. The sleeves billowed out around the sides and the skirt was bunched up to her mid-thigh. She wore matching kitten heels, and her long red curls draped around her shoulders.  
  
Danielle shrugged on her warm Burberry raincoat over her black suit. She wore sensible heels and ran a brush through her short blonde hair. Her sisters exchanged disgusted looks when she turned around and said, "Well, come on then."  
  
"Aren't you going to change?"  
  
"I'm sorry, I thought we were going to a club, not a brothel." Danielle glared at her two sisters.  
  
Patricia took no notice of her sisters' insult. "I've got just the thing for you." She went into her room and slammed the door. Danielle sighed and flounced down on the sofa. Anne-Marie eyed her as she filed her fingernails, leaning against the kitchen counter.  
  
"You know, you don't have to be so miserable all the time. You can lighten up."  
  
"I don't see why we have to act like humans. We don't interact with them, we don't deal with them, we aren't like them."  
  
"You've had the upgrades. You've read the directives. Doesn't any of it affect you?"  
  
"Not particularly. I'm a machine. So are you and Patti. Why should we pretend to be something we're not?"  
  
"You know, I asked my programmer that when I was being uploaded. He said to me that the Matrix wasn't just created for them, but for us to enjoy as well. If we've got to be here, and lets face it, we're not going anywhere, they need us to take care of them as much as we need them to fuel us, then at least we can enjoy what we've given them as much as they do."  
  
Danielle leaned back in the sofa and could smell the wonderful leather smell rising up into her nostrils. She looked around at the plush apartment the Matrix had created for them. She had a sense of taste and smell, could appreciate visual symmetry and perfection, had an eye for colour and detail, but emphasized, better than a human. More able to appreciate perfection and beauty than a human. It made sense to Danielle, the Matrix was not created so exactingly correct for the humans, but for the machines. The humans wouldn't know the difference, only the machines would, and would appreciate the extra effort. Maybe there was something to this humanization after all.  
  
"That's right, sis," Anne-Marie said via their comm. link. Patricia came out of her room. She held up a little black dress.  
  
"If this doesn't turn Mr. Nasty's head, nothing will. Now come here and let me fix you up."  
  
* * *  
  
[Uploading Agent 6.2.5 Status: 84% Complete]  
  
Smith felt the files in his head changing, the upload taking longer than anticipated. As his eyes were closed he could hear Brown humming a tune as he polished his already gleaming black shoes. Smith heard a squirting noise and his nostrils were filled with an odour that humans would call "fragrance".  
  
"What is that smell?" Smith asked.  
  
"L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme. The Mainframe recommended it as an appropriate scent for Agents." Jones answered him.  
  
"Can I use some?" Smith asked, compelled, and yet, horrified at himself. The file upload was at 87% now. Could it already be taking effect?  
  
Jones tossed the bottle to him and without even needing to open his eyes, Smith reached up and caught it. He set it on the desk and pursed his fingers, waiting.  
  
[Uploading Agent 6.2.5 Status: 96% Complete]  
  
"How much further do you need to go?" Brown asked him.  
  
"I am at 96%." Smith replied, feeling the final checks occurring on his processes.  
  
"It will take a few minutes for your processes to come fully back online. Then we can leave," said Jones.  
  
"Are you of a better disposition regarding this event now?" Brown asked him.  
  
"I would rather spend an evening being disassembled by those children of the rebels who bend spoons and float balls in the air," Smith paused. "Whenever I see one I shoot at it for fun."  
  
Jones shot Smith a pained look., "Like you did to Agent Cat."  
  
"You should change its' code to replicate upon destruction of host. Then you could use it for target practice and it would be something useful other than just an eating, defecating and noisemaking machine."  
  
Brown and Jones looked at each other. Obviously some things wouldn't change with the new upgrades, no matter how much they wished.  
  
[Upload Agent 6.2.5 Status: 100% Complete. Rebooting]  
  
Smith slumped forward in his chair. Brown and Jones stopped their preening and watched as Smith's fingers twitched and then he sat upright, cracking his neck.  
  
"I've made backups of myself just in case. If this upload impedes my work in the slightest way I will roll back."  
  
"Are you ready?" Brown asked him.  
  
"I suppose." Smith slid his sunglasses on. He saw the bottle of cologne on the desk and gave himself a spray.  
  
"Agent fresh," he said with a half-smile. Brown and Jones exchanged glances. Smith, for the first time in his existence, was attempting to be humorous on purpose. Perhaps the uploads wouldn't be a total loss on him after all. 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Agents Smith, Brown, Jones, Morpheus, Trinity, et al. and the wonderful world of the Matrix are property of their respective copyright holders.  
  
Small warning: Little bit of social drug use ahead (marijuana.) (No, it's not Agent Smith getting stoned.) If you've got a problem with it though, read no further.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
The three Agents hit the club like a trio of Blues Brothers without the black bowler hats. Or, to be more specific, two Blues Brothers and a reluctant, grimacing tagalong. Brown and Jones scanned the smoky crowd from the doorway. Smith slipped around them and made a beeline for the bar.  
  
"Do you think we'll have much of a chance to pick up ladies?" Brown asked Jones. "I very much desire to experience a one-night stand."  
  
Jones smiled, "We are what they call 'babe magnets.' I'm sure we will be fine. Where's Smith?"  
  
Brown spotted him over at the bar. They looked at each other, nodded, and adjusted their ties in unison. They then walked over to where Smith was standing.  
  
"I will have a," Smith paused to consider his options based on Mainframe suggestions, "dry martini. With an olive. Shaken." The barman nodded and set about his task. The club was already crowded with programmes from all over the administration zone of their agency. The Merovingian was there, holding court on the second level of the club, overlooking the dance floor. Couples moved together in precision steps, with a few starting to show improvisation beyond the Mainframe's guides. The area around the bar was crowded but generally the atmosphere was subdued. A remix of Nine Inch Nail's "Head Like a Hole" was playing, a track that Smith found to be an oddly appropriate choice based upon its' lyrical content. 'Bow down before the one you serve. what a fitting sentiment for machines who formerly served humans, and have now lowered themselves to this.' he thought to himself.  
  
Brown considered a drinks menu at the bar. "Do you think a Piña Colada sounds acceptable?" he asked Jones.  
  
Jones scanned the menu, "The contents of such a beverage indicate that it would have a very high fructose and glucose level. Too much can cause a souring of ones occupant's stomach."  
  
"Now you are even thinking like a human." Smith looked at Jones with disgust.  
  
"File 5203.2 under Eating and Drinking details the effects of food and drink on ones' human hosts. It is worth taking into account."  
  
Smith shook his head and sipped his drink. The gin and vermouth combined to create a sensation of taste that he found acceptable. Jones ordered a beer and Brown opted for a scotch on the rocks.  
  
Jones spotted an empty grouping of chairs and a sofa off to the side of the dance floor. He motioned for Smith and Brown to follow him and they did. Smith found the repetitive bass and mechanical percussion of the music to be tedious and mundane. Gerald the Engineer passed by, but stopped when he saw Jones and began speaking to him. Gerald was smoking a small cigar, and Smith wrinkled his nose at the smoke. So far this experience has been tolerable, in Smith's mind.  
  
Smith regarded the crowd of machines trying to act human and would have laughed or said something patronizingly insulting, if he was not doing exactly the same thing they were. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, however. He watched a couple sitting in a dark corner who were engaged in oral contact with each other. The man had his hand on the female's chest and she was responding enthusiastically.  
  
'You would think they were actually human, the way they were performing,' Smith thought to himself. An image of Danielle entered his head again. For a moment Smith wondered if she would lower herself to act that way. Logically, he believed that she wouldn't, she believed like he did, as her prior comments indicated, that machines should not carry on as humans do. Something in his mind clicked and an image of himself began to develop in the same position as the couple he was watching, with Danielle as the woman. Smith closed his eyes for a moment trying to purge the idea from his mind but found it would not go away so easily. He identified the cause of these thoughts in the new documentation that had been uploaded, and realised that he was experiencing attraction and sexual interest in Danielle. Furthermore, the documentation made it clear that there was no way to abort these processes, they had to run their course to one of many logical conclusions.  
  
Smith opened his mouth to ask Jones and Brown if they had experienced anything similar with the new upgrades but found that they had become quite engrossed with discussing the mental and physiological processes that govern feline and canine behavioural differences with Gerald. Smith noticed that his drink was finished and turned his head to see if a waitress was nearby.  
  
Smith blinked twice, rapidly. Danielle was standing at the bar. She was wearing a long black dress that was exceptionally low cut in the back, and up the sides, revealing the sides of her breasts. Her hair was pulled back and she had a white and purple orchid in it. She was chatting to that red- headed harridan of a sister. He was experiencing numbness, anxiety, his neural paths screamed and he was breathing rapidly, even though he never drew breath before in his existence. His systems were overwhelmed, processes firing off differently to what he ever experienced. He wanted to speak to her but didn't know how to make his legs work, or what to say.  
  
* * *  
  
Patricia was already drunk and had been offered some cannabis upon entering the club. She had accepted it and had smoked the noxious cigarette, much to Danielle's disapproval, and was growing more loud and irrational by the second. She teetered on her shoes and clutched Danielle's arm to balance herself. Laughing to herself, she shouted, "Don't look now, Danni, but Mr. Nasty's looking your way." Patricia leaned in towards Danielle and whispered, "He looks like he swallowed a frog."  
  
Danielle felt herself grow nervous just at the mention of Smith. "Where is he?"  
  
"He's sitting over at the tables near the dance floor. Two other Agents are with him and it looks like Gerald the dick-less wonder is with them."  
  
It was as if the Matrix failed at that moment, causing the ambient volume of the club to drop and her voice to carry. Gerald felt his neck grow red and he stood up, and turned to face her. The music stopped and the club was so silent, you could hear a pin drop.  
  
"You bitch!" He hollered, "You complete and utter rotten bitch!"  
  
Danielle's eyes grew wide and she took a step backwards from Patricia. Patricia snapped her gum and eyed Gerald. A cheeky, slightly nasty smile formed on her face. "You can't deny it, you know. You're a version one. Like, I hear, the Merovingian is," she shouted up to the rafters.  
  
Danielle knew trouble when she heard it, and her sister challenging Gerald, a nobody, was bad enough, but to take on the Merovingian, one of the most powerful programmes in the Matrix, was just asking for deletion. She only prayed that his wrath wouldn't extend to Anne-Marie and herself. Danielle couldn't help but hear a females' slightly wicked laugh cascading down from the upper levels of the club.  
  
The crowd parted and a well dressed man walked towards where the sisters were standing. He smiled at Patricia "I can see my naughty little Persephone has been spreading her rumours again, oui?" the man said. He spoke with a cultured French accent. "Because I know how les femmes enjoy their chitter-chatter, I will give you a chance. Apologize to me," he paused and drew an Agent-issue Desert Eagle seemingly out of thin air and aimed it at her forehead, "or you will die."  
  
Patricia looked up at the barrel of the gun pointing at her head. Her eyes glanced over at Danielle.  
  
"Or perhaps I should kill your sister first, no? That will loosen your tongue, peut-être?" He cocked the gun and aimed it at Danielle's forehead.  
  
"I wouldn't." Another Desert Eagle cocked from behind the Merovingian. Smith pressed it into the base of his skull.  
  
"Ah. Agent Smith. Combien de temps a-t-il été ?" The Merovingian smiled at Danielle and held his aim.  
  
"Not long enough. They're just stupid girls. Drop it."  
  
"Since when are you so concerned over les femmes? I take it the Agents have had some, 'upgrades'." He laughed to himself, "Tell me, Smith, aren't you a homme sans zizi? Un versión un?"  
  
Smith gritted his teeth. "Unlike most programmes, when Agents were coded they managed to get it right the first time. Luckily for your kind, however, they failed. I'll have to shoot you in the head instead."  
  
The Merovingian hesitated. "Smith." he paused. "No hard feelings, oui?"  
  
"I don't imagine you have hard anything, let alone feelings," Smith increased the pressure of the barrel on the back of his neck. "Your move."  
  
"Girls," the Merovingian said, lowering his gun, "You mustn't believe everything you hear." He backed away through the crowd. "Agent Smith, a bientôt."  
  
The noise of the club resumed as the music began. Danielle looked over at Patricia who was drinking her champagne in one undignified gulp. She turned to Agent Smith.  
  
"Thank you for what you did, Sir."  
  
Smith looked uncomfortable, "You're welcome. My name is Smith. Please do not call me sir outside of work."  
  
Danielle blushed at her well meaning faux-pas and continued to thank him, "It was awfully good of you to help us." Anne-Marie, who had been stuck in the crowd on the dance floor the whole time, had managed to get to Patricia and now Patricia was drinking her drink as well. She was saying something drunkenly and Anne-Marie was trying to quiet her down.  
  
Smith turned to the two girls, "Perhaps you should remove yourselves to spare yourselves further conflict and embarrassment."  
  
Anne-Marie nodded and started to lead Patricia towards the door. Danielle said, "Well, I guess I better be going."  
  
Out of nowhere, Smith was quickly compelled to say, "You do not have to leave as I will escort you back to your apartment later on if you wish to stay."  
  
Despite Patricia's upset and angry comments, Danielle could hear Anne-Marie through their comm. shouting "STAY!" at her. Danielle glanced over at her sisters and Anne-Marie nodded at her.  
  
"I guess that will be alright." She smiled at Smith, causing a small neural rush in his systems.  
  
"May I get you a drink?" he asked.  
  
"Sure. I'll have a gin and tonic."  
  
Brown had approached Smith and was standing behind him, listening to their exchange. He motioned towards the table the Agents were sharing. "Would you like to sit down?" he asked.  
  
Danielle nodded and walked over to the table where Jones was sitting. Brown cornered Smith. "What were you doing?"  
  
"That piece of obsolete code had no right to threaten them. They perform their functions more efficiently than he ever has."  
  
"Still he is not to be harmed. He is protected under the auspices of the Architect."  
  
"He had no right to threaten them," Smith repeated.  
  
"Why didn't you protect the red haired one?" Brown asked. Smith didn't reply.  
  
"Your behaviour makes no logical sense. Are you functioning correctly? Did your upload complete satisfactorily?"  
  
"I am fine and so is my code," Smith sighed at his neurotic colleague. "Have you read the documentation about the mating ritual and processes?"  
  
"Yes," Brown said. "Are you experiencing any of the conditions?"  
  
"I believe I am," Smith looked at Danielle. "I have seen her in my mind even though I have tried to delete all record of our interactions together. She haunts me. I acted in her defence without hesitation. I put her safety above the hierarchical order."  
  
"You must ascertain if she feels similarly towards you. Then you can initiate a courtship which will culminate in marriage and the mating ritual."  
  
Smith raised his eyebrows at Brown's clinical summary, "I intend on." he paused, choosing the right words, "taking it as it comes." He walked back to the table, leaving Brown at the bar waiting for his drink.  
  
* * *  
  
As Jones made his way through the crowd trying to get to the bar, a tiny brunette grabbed him by the arm. "Come dance with me!" she squealed, and tried leading him to the dance floor. Jones darted his eyes around. Brown and Smith were both engrossed in speaking with Danielle the intelligence processor. He figured that no harm could come from dancing with this female and he found her to be reasonably attractive as well, so for the first time in Jones' existence, he danced.  
  
Smith looked across the table at Brown who was discussing the different protocol changes in intelligence that were implemented with the deletion of her predecessor and the placement of her sisters. After his confession to Brown that he was having feelings for Danielle, Smith would have believed that he would have given them some privacy, as all suggestions from the Mainframe in regards to these situations indicated that was an appropriate response. For some reason the conversation kept drifting back onto Danielle's sister, Patricia.  
  
"How is Patricia performing in the Matrix, generally?" Brown asked.  
  
"As far as I can tell, she is adequately dealing with her station in this world and the tasks that have been assigned to her," Danielle replied. She sipped her gin and tonic and smiled at Brown.  
  
"Is she currently in a courtship scenario?" Brown probed further.  
  
"You mean, is she dating anyone? No. She's too flirtatious for her own good and ends up embarrassing herself, like she did with poor Gerald." Danielle glanced around the club and saw Gerald trying to chat up a woman at the end of the bar and for some reason he was sticking out his tongue as far as it would go and wiggling it, much to the delight of the lady. She then sat down next to him and started running her hand over his upper arm, lightly.  
  
"What kind of a man does she prefer?" Brown asked, also noticing Gerald's display of his only sexual function.  
  
"Are you interested in my sister, Agent Brown?" Danielle asked him, smiling. She stirred her drink with her straw and tried to ignore Smith's face growing ever-more like thunder at Brown.  
  
Brown's eyes darted around. "Yes," he whispered.  
  
Smith couldn't help it, he started to laugh. "A woman like that would devour you. Do you have any idea what you would be doing to yourself?"  
  
"Perhaps I want to be devoured. The sexuality guides say it is a pleasurable experience."  
  
Smith and Danielle went quiet. Smith shook his head in disgust and Danielle stared down at her drink. Brown had a quizzical look on his face, still not quite comprehending the meaning of Smith's objection. He sensed that he was misunderstanding Smith's meaning but couldn't figure out how, and Jones was not there to clarify for him.  
  
"Why don't you go find Jones and get him to stop making such a fool of himself on the dance floor?" Smith asked him.  
  
Brown got up and left the table in search of Jones. Smith shook his head. "You'll have to ignore the idiocracy of my colleagues. They are not handling the new upgrades as they should be, as their programming is not as advanced as my own."  
  
"That is obvious." Danielle sipped her drink, "But how are you handling the upgrades? I was mortified when I learned that Anne-Marie uploaded Human Link with your file, but there was little I could do, being that it was our orders."  
  
"I am realising how I can use the humanity programming in conjunction with my original code so that it is not an intrusion. Therefore it will have little effect upon my stability as a whole, and no impact on my primary objectives."  
  
"Then I take it you have experienced none of the unexpected processes which the upgrade enabled?"  
  
"Specifically to what are you referring?" Smith leaned towards her slightly, narrowing the distance between them.  
  
"Deleted files and events reappearing. Self-projections onto events occurring, imagining yourself in scenarios with others, neural rushes, breathing?"  
  
Smith was silent. He took off his sunglasses and trained his sapphire eyes upon her, looking into her own eyes. "It may be possible that I have exhibited those events occurring as a result of Human Link and the upgrades."  
  
Danielle whispered, "I believe I have as well."  
  
"And what did your diagnostic tell you?" Smith asked, feeling like his entire existence in the Matrix was dependant on her answer.  
  
"That I have been experiencing the start of an attraction to someone."  
  
"I have reached the same conclusions about myself."  
  
"To whom have you been experiencing this attraction?" Danielle asked, feeling as if her systems were ready to lock up. She was overwhelmed by what was occurring to her in this moment, but for some odd reason it was the most pleasurable experience she ever encountered and she didn't want it to stop.  
  
Smith closed his eyes, and opened his mouth. He felt as if he couldn't speak, as if his speech functions had malfunctioned. Opening his eyes he found enough energy to say the word, the monosyllabic confession of all he'd been trying to deny.  
  
"You."  
  
Danielle felt as light as a helium compound. What she had not dared to dream, what her sisters knew before she did, had come true. For a brief second she wondered how they could have known, but the thought went as quickly as it had come. They looked deep in each other's eyes. Smith moved closer to Danielle, brushing his leg against hers. He could feel the commencement of breathing, a fluttering sensation cutting through him, making him feel cold and hot at the same time, making his neural pathways misfire, until they were a solid ball of light in his brain that he couldn't decipher.  
  
"We should be horrified. We are machines," he whispered.  
  
"I agree. But somehow we're not. Somehow this is how it should be," she replied. He could see every pore in her skin, every miniscule grain of powder colouring her eyes and cheeks, and a longing, driving force took him over. He closed his eyes, and their lips touched, as his breath caught in his throat. He felt his arms take her in, her arms around him, and through their mutual will a moment in time was stretched as they embraced and experienced their first kiss. Music filled the air, people laughing and talking as if nothing was happening, as if the very staunch, solid existences of two of their own were not inexplicably changing in that second.  
  
* * *  
  
Jones and Brown could hear the change in their earpieces. They looked over at the table to see Smith and Danielle locked in a deep embrace.  
  
"What does this mean?" Brown asked Jones.  
  
"Obviously the upgrades were a success."  
  
"It was wise of you to forge that memo from the Mainframe." Brown nodded at Jones.  
  
"It was wise of you to start the rumour that reinforced it." Jones smiled at Brown.  
  
"He did not realise it but his arrogance would have held us back."  
  
"He is still a good team leader. Despite the low regard he holds for us, we are consistently the most successful team in all of the nine constructs."  
  
"Do you think he will permit us to have homes now?" Brown watched as Smith and Danielle withdrew and looked at each other in wonder, trying to understand the new sensations cascading through their programming. "It is a possibility they will want a home of their own."  
  
"Then we will be permitted to have homes as well. Agent Cat will have a backyard to play in." Jones smiled at the thought of his cat.  
  
"Do you believe Danielle will introduce me to her sister Patricia?" Brown asked, "I very much wish to experience a sexual relationship with her."  
  
Jones heard a voice behind him, "Come back and finish our dance!" Both agents turned around and saw the short brunette who was dancing with Jones earlier waiting on him. "I've got a friend for your friend!" she exclaimed. Brown was taken aback as a tall, leggy, ice-cold blue eyed blonde walked up to him and asked, "Wanna dance?"  
  
Both agents hesitated for a moment. "Babe Magnets," Brown said to Jones via their earpieces. And they danced. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
Trinity and Morpheus sat across from each other as they steered the Nebuchadnezzar through the old sewer lines of the real world. They were hoping to avoid Sentinels, as their last trip up to broadcast level when they rescued Ibrox from the Agents had seen an increased presence of Sentinels on patrol, presumably a present from the Agents in retribution for sabotaging their objective.  
  
"When do you think it will be safe to go back in to free him?" Trinity asked.  
  
"He is safe with the Oracle for the time being unless we receive a message otherwise."  
  
"What do you think happened to our informant?" Trinity gently steered the Nebuchadnezzar around some scrap metal littering the sewer.  
  
"We can only assume the Agents found her and eliminated her. They spy on their own as much as they do us."  
  
"Who do we have left?" Trinity asked.  
  
"Not very many now. Just the other day we lost an engineer in the European construct who was monitoring Agent scanning patterns. That one agent, Smith, he is like a dog with a bone. They say he was the first Agent, a prototype for all of the others. Some say that the machines realised they made him too intelligent and autonomous and so created the others to be more subservient and less intelligent." Morpheus winced as the Neb scraped a thruster against the side wall.  
  
"Why would they want to do that?"  
  
"Machine arrogance. Even a stupid machine is smarter than a human, so they reason. But a smart machine, like Smith, would be a threat to take over the Matrix itself."  
  
"Why don't they just disassemble him?" Trinity paused to scan for other electromagnetic devices in the vicinity.  
  
"He's too valuable. They keep him busy scanning for informants within the Matrix, monitoring rebel activity, and they find jobs for him to do when he's not chasing rebels. The engineer in Europe's last report was that the Mainframe was updating Agency programmes with advanced human emotions and techniques. One can assume they would use these as a control and diversion to distract their more intelligent programmes like him to keep them from hatching insurrection plans."  
  
The scan came back clear and Trinity proceeded through a junction. "What would happen if someone like Smith were to take over?"  
  
"I don't know, Trinity. I can only assume it would be bad though."  
  
Just then, Cypher poked his head through the door, "Where are we headed, boss?"  
  
"We're headed south, towards the old Mexican gateway. We can only hope the Sentinels aren't patrolling as much there. We'll try to get Ibrox out again once we get there."  
  
"How long do you, ah, think it will take?" Cypher scratched his neck and leaned against the doorway as he scratched his chest through the tattered mesh sweater.  
  
"About three or four days, depending on the traffic we encounter," Trinity said.  
  
"Cypher, why don't you go ahead and start running a diagnostic on our enter and exit patterns. See if there's a way we can randomize it, so the Agents can't find our position when we go in." said Morpheus  
  
"It's already good, though. They're hardly ever are waiting for us on materialization anymore," Cypher protested.  
  
"See if you can make it better. I want the risk reduced to zero."  
  
"Right away, boss." Cypher rolled his eyes at the back of Morpheus's bald head. He stomped back down through the corridors of the Neb.  
  
Trinity and Morpheus looked at each other and shook their heads. Just then a bleep emitted from the intercom to the left of Morpheus.  
  
"Go ahead, Tank," Morpheus said, flipping on the two-way.  
  
"Sir, we've just had a transmission from Zion. The Sentinels are increasing their presence there and all ships have been requested to return to help defend against the increased threat."  
  
Morpheus sighed. Ibrox would have to wait. "Message them back, Tank. We're on our way."  
  
Trinity shook her head and turned the Hovercraft around gently, to take it home.  
  
* * *  
  
The bell rang at the front desk of the intelligence office. Danielle looked at her sister Patricia who had her head down on the counter, asleep. While Danielle was unsure if programmes could get hangovers, Patricia was pretending very effectively that she had one. Anne-Marie was buried up in some rafters somewhere deep in the files. "Get that for us, Danni!" she screamed from out of nowhere.  
  
Danielle put her mental replay of last night on hold and walked through an aisle of files. She stopped when she saw Smith waiting on the other side of the counter. A huge smile, involuntarily spread over her face.  
  
Smith raised his eyebrows and smiled back. "How are you today?" he asked.  
  
"Can't complain," she giggled. She leaned against the counter and looked at him. Using his index finger, he raised her chin up and kissed her gently.  
  
"Who is it?" Anne-Marie shouted as she ran through the files. As she entered the reception she caught sight of Smith and Danielle kissing and stopped abruptly, regretting her actions. She went to back up quickly but the moment was broken. Smith broke the kiss and cleared his throat. Danielle smoothed her jacket and looked guilty.  
  
"Uh, sorry. I'll just, uh, leave you two alone." Anne-Marie stuttered.  
  
"Please do," growled Smith. "This is of a personal matter."  
  
"So I can see," Anne-Marie said, getting a bit bolder. "You know, I am her sister. You could try being a bit more pleasant towards me."  
  
"Anne-Marie," Danielle began, "I'm sure that he"  
  
Smith interrupted her, "I apologize if I was rude. Will you go now?"  
  
"That's marginally better." Anne-Marie looked at Danielle, "Work on his people skills, won't you?"  
  
"My skills with people involve interrogation, manipulation and termination. In those areas I am quite skilled. Would you like a demonstration?" Smith half-smiled at his clever turn of words.  
  
"Uh, no that's alright," Anne-Marie said.  
  
"I do not need to have an advanced grip of the social niceties that you are referring to. Up until now, neither did any machine." Smith glared at Anne-Marie from behind his sunglasses.  
  
"Well now you do. Mainframe orders. Get over it, Mr. Nasty. Read more of the Social file on 'Manners and Politeness'."  
  
Smith turned to Danielle, "Is she necessary to the performance of your job or can I eliminate her?"  
  
Danielle started to laugh and Smith smiled. Anne-Marie missed his version of a joke completely. She walked away shaking her head.  
  
"So," Smith began, "What are you doing this evening?"  
  
"Processing new updates of the files." Danielle smiled at him. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Monitoring resistant activity." He tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear and smiled at her. "Are your sisters going to be working late as well?"  
  
"No. Patricia is pretending like she is experiencing a hangover and I imagine will want to go home soon. Anne-Marie has started dating a encryption cracker and I believe they are going to see a film tonight. What are Jones and Brown doing this evening?"  
  
"Jones is taking his stupid cat to some sort of animal socialization course. Brown is seeing a woman named Barbara whom he met last night while they were dancing."  
  
"So you'll be alone upstairs?" she asked. Smith nodded and raised his eyebrows, "And you'll be alone down here?" Danielle grinned. "Yes. Very, very alone."  
  
"Would you like to work together then?" Smith asked. "I can get a computer put in my office for you to do your updates."  
  
"That would be lovely," said Danielle. "We will," she paused and ran her fingers up his tie and snaked them around his neck, pulling him close to her, "work together," she murmured. Their lips met again, and at that moment, Smith was able to identify the word for what he was experiencing: passion.  
  
They looked in each other's eyes for a long moment of time, until Patricia's shrill voice broke the moment. "Danielle!" she bellowed from the depths of the file room, "Get me a glass of" and then the words sounded muffled and strained.  
  
Danielle looked concerned for a moment. "Don't worry," Smith said, smiling "I just melted her mouth. The effect should end within a few minutes unless you wish me to make it permanent."  
  
Danielle started to shake with laughter. Smith smiled, and then turned to leave. "See you later," he said. Danielle winked at him and went to fetch Patricia's water.  
  
* * *  
  
[/f *.* dir] [dir:  
  
Social Nutrition Customs Holidays Cultures]  
  
[open /Social.dir]  
  
[Social.dir]  
  
[*.*dir] [dir:  
  
Events Behaviours Manners Sexuality]  
  
[open sexuality.dir]  
  
[sexuality.dir] [open mating and courtship.doc]  
  
The Mainframe Guide to Mating and Courtship  
Compiled by Agency Research Lab 3, North American Matrix Construct:  
New York (Team 0.0405932)  
  
Applicable Constructs: North America, South America, European, South  
Pacific  
Constructs: Asia, Russia, Middle East, Africa, Rest of World should  
consult locale-specific guidelines prepared by regional Agency.  
  
Chapter 1: So, you're experiencing an attraction.  
Chapter 2: Ascertaining the feelings of the opposite sex  
Chapter 3: Appropriate conversational "icebreakers"  
Chapter 3a: Worksheet of "icebreakers"  
Chapter 4: Plan B: When your "icebreakers" fail  
Chapter 5: Plan C: When all else fails, make a fool of yourself.  
Chapter 6: Explaining Physical Contact  
Chapter 6a: Worksheet of appropriate physical contact vs. non-  
appropriate physical contact  
Chapter 7: Dating: Good dates vs. Bad Dates and what consists of them.  
Chapter 8: How to establish, and gain sexual experience  
Chapter 8a: Machine reproduction and the difference between human  
reproduction (Important Information: Mandatory Reading)  
Chapter 9: Ready to settle down? Marriage.  
Chapter 10: The Happily Ever After in the Matrix  
Chapter 11: Starting over: Divorce Information  
  
Appendix 1: Romantic music  
  
The Mainframe Guide to Mating and Courtship cross-links to all files  
on drive f:/ Full access is needed to all files.  
  
Smith decided that he would skip ahead to Chapter 7. He smiled to himself and opened the file on Good Dates vs. Bad Dates. Skimming ahead through the irrelevant information, he found the section that was most applicable to his situation.  
  
Quiet Nights In.  
  
You have decided to have a quiet night in the privacy of your own  
dwelling. The first thing you must ensure is that your dwelling is  
tidy and conducive to your significant other's comfort.  
  
Smith analysed the surfaces of the office. The chrome was sparkling, the windows were clean, the janitor had finally managed to remove all of the bloodstains from the last person they had in for questioning. Beyond Smith's large desk and black leather chair, there was only a table in the far corner of the room, and a single, uncomfortable steel interrogation chair sitting against the back wall. Smith created a black leather sofa, another desk with computer terminal and leather chair to match his, a floor rug to match the décor, and a small refrigerator, chrome, from which he could offer her a drink from.  
  
Decide upon appropriate entertainment for the evening. Music, soft  
lighting, a movie, a game, or an open fire are all good possibilities.  
It is not a good idea to discuss or do work in great lengths, nor is  
it to just expect physical contact and not plan for any sort of  
diversion to create a jovial mood.  
  
Smith was going to delete the computer but he thought that, since that was what she said she was coming up for, that it might be alright. He tried softening the fluorescent lighting of the large office but when he established that an annoying visual flicker occurred, he created some floor lamps to set at points around the office to provide dimmer, more natural lighting. The idea of an open fire intrigued him. He created a partition through the office and placed a fireplace in the centre, creating a beautiful crackling and roaring fire in it as he did.  
  
Smith then decided to pipe music through the speakers in his office that were normally used to implant subliminal suggestions to interrogates. He consulted Appendix 1 and came up with Bach's Goldberg Variations as an appropriate choice.  
  
It is wise to offer food. Humans assign significance to taking  
nourishment, beyond merely providing energy for themselves. In this  
spirit, they can find comfort and conversation is increased through  
the taking of food together.  
  
Suggestions:  
Italian cuisine  
French cuisine  
  
Smith had never eaten before. He wasn't sure if she would want to, but in case she did he created a small kitchen off to one side by the refrigerator, and quickly uploaded files on cooking Italian and French cuisines.  
  
If your evening progresses to a stage of sexual contact, make sure you  
have somewhere comfortable and conducive to sexual activity.  
  
He figured the sofa would do nicely. He also changed the material of the rug from wool to a softer acrylic, and created a few pillows.  
  
Important: Please read Chapter 8a before any sexual contact takes  
place.  
  
Smith skipped ahead to Chapter 8a. Just as he was about to read it, Jones and Brown came in.  
  
"We're going now for the eve" Jones started and then paused. He looked around the room.  
  
"You've been busy," Brown said. "Is Danielle coming up?"  
  
Smith was silent. He acted like he was looking at his terminal screen.  
  
"You're missing something." Jones said.  
  
"What?" Smith asked, irritated and annoyed at the intrusion.  
  
Jones created a large bouquet of hand tied Stargazer lilies, deep crimson roses, purple irises, swan wing tulips, black parrot tulips and magnolias. He placed them on Smith's desk.  
  
"Give those to her. She'll be putty in your hands."  
  
Smith couldn't help but crack a half-smile. "Good idea. Thank you."  
  
Jones and Brown looked at each other, almost astonished. Did Smith just thank them?  
  
"You may go now," Smith said. He created a vase full of water and placed the bouquet in it. "Have a nice evening."  
  
Jones and Brown left, silently closing the door behind them. "I think he's in love," Brown said. Jones nodded and smiled.  
  
"Can you make me a bouquet to take to Barbara?" Brown asked. Jones looked at him. Jones looked at him and created a bouquet of dandelions.  
  
"She'll love them," he said as he handed them to Brown.  
  
Brown looked at the yellow weeds. "Are you sure?"  
  
Jones cracked a half-smile similar to Smith's. "Trust me."  
  
* * *  
  
At 5:45, Smith heard a knock on his office door. She was exactly on time.  
  
He went to the door and opened it. She was there, smiling up at him.  
  
"Danielle," he said, a warm smile appearing on his face. He held the door open for her and once inside, took her in his arms and kissed her, pulling her close into him, the contours of their bodies merging in their embrace, as he had been dreaming of doing all day long. He kissed her forehead, eyes, nose and lips again. Her hands clutched his back as she squeezed him tightly to her.  
  
"I've been thinking of you all day," she whispered, as they broke their kiss but stayed in each other's arms. "You feel so wonderful."  
  
Smith had his eyes closed and was just concentrating on the feel of her in his arms, the object of his fixation. While he still couldn't believe that he was experiencing this human weakness, he no longer was trying to fight against it, but was, indeed, taking it as it came. It gave him pleasure, a feeling that he had very little experience of, in his collected experience of the past six Matrixes.  
  
He broke away from her and held out his arm, welcoming her into his space. "May I offer you a drink?" he asked.  
  
Danielle surveyed the office, "This isn't how it normally is, is it? You've done all of this for me."  
  
"If you wish to proceed with your work this evening I needed to create a computer and desk for you." Smith walked over to where the small refrigerator was standing.  
  
"The fireplace was a nice touch. So are these flowers." Danielle bent down to process their fragrance.  
  
"Those are for you. Please take them with you this evening when you depart."  
  
Danielle smiled at him, "Thank you. They're lovely." She extracted a black parrot tulip and ran her fingers lightly over the feathered petals, feeling their velvety soft texture. She walked over towards the full length windows that made up the exterior wall of the office, and admired the view. He said nothing, but walked to her side and took her free hand, and watched the world go by their window.  
  
Danielle looked over at Smith shyly and smiled. He met her glance and said nothing. Her hand felt so small in his, her fingers so thin and tapered. He wanted to kiss her lips again, but before he could, she spoke.  
  
"Shall we get on with our work then?" she asked.  
  
Smith nodded and they walked over to the desks. She punched her login details into the terminal and replaced her earpiece to gain access to the updates. Smith sat at his desk and loaded up the green code of the Matrix, which was what he was to be monitoring, but also her programming specifications and work progression details. Danielle's lightning-fast typing filled the room.  
  
"You work faster than your sisters," Smith said, observing her progression rates were almost 15% higher than Patricia's and 5% higher than Anne- Marie's.  
  
"I was coded first," she said. "I was a prototype."  
  
"As was I," Smith said. Danielle raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Prototypes are always created to perfection and then evaluated to determine how much function is necessary for subsequent versions," Smith said. "They say that to make all programmes perfect would slow down the Matrix as it would take too much charge to run programmes that operate on 100% efficiency levels," he said, pausing. "Personally I believe that they only make one perfect programme as they need to have someone in charge of a group and then they fill our time up with poorly programmed incompetents to slow us down." Smith pressed a button on the keyboard. "Imagine what the Matrix would be if all programmes were perfect."  
  
Danielle smiled, "That's a very good thought. There would be no resistants. No need for intelligence processors. Or Agents."  
  
"There would always be a need for Agents," Smith smiled, "And intelligence processors."  
  
"I take it you don't think very highly of Brown and Jones," Danielle continued to type rapidly, making changes to a series of files of participants in a protest march that occurred against the current United States Government that afternoon.  
  
"They could be so much more than they are, and it frustrates me that the Mainframe has held them back. They get too preoccupied by human pursuits, even before these upgrades were issued." Smith watched a rebel being chased in Israel by an Agent. He saw the code change and realised the rebel got out. He shook his head, "I'm sure you feel similarly about your sisters."  
  
"My sisters. Yes. Anne-Marie can be particularly insightful at times however Patricia's main objective is one of human pursuits and not her work, which is a constant annoyance for me." Danielle glanced over at Smith and saw him sitting with his eyes closed.  
  
"And they both believe you work too much and do not care about anything else?"  
  
"Yes. Until recently."  
  
"Until what has transpired between you and I?"  
  
"Yes." Danielle began another set of updates regarding terrorism conspirators operating in Europe. As she began typing she was surprised to see that the update had been completed. She opened up her next batch and they were done as well. She looked over at Smith.  
  
"All work and no play makes for a dull existence, as Brown says to me frequently," he smiled.  
  
"Was I taking too long?" she asked. He didn't respond, but stood up and held out his hand to her. She took his hand and he pulled her up into his arms, and they started to dance. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
  
"How did it go last night?" Brown was sitting on the sofa in Smith's office. Jones was playing with his cat again, teasing it with a string. "Did you and Danielle engage in sexual activities?"  
  
"The details of my evening are none of your concern." Smith trained his Desert Eagle onto Jones' cat and practiced holding the target as the horrid little creature jumped around.  
  
"Did Danielle like the flowers?" Jones asked.  
  
"As a matter of fact she did." Smith murmured. He aimed at the cat and every so often said, "Bang!" under his breath, mimicking the recoil of the Eagle with his wrist. He was trying to improve his recoil recovery times to 0.001 second.  
  
"Must you do that?" Jones asked Smith, wearily.  
  
Smith placed the Desert Eagle down on his desk and turned back to his computer monitor. Still no sign of any transmission from Mr. Reagan, and no sign of Resistant activity. Smith figured that his band of Sentinels were keeping them very busy down in Zion, which was good, as it was giving them more time to trace the location of the Oracle. A trace of Ibrox's signature was not successful, so Smith concluded they were giving Ibrox disruptors to keep him out of the traceable coding of the Matrix. Still, there were other ways to find the Oracle and Ibrox, it was only a matter of time. And time was on their side at the moment.  
  
"Resistant activity is at an all time low," Brown said. He was attempting to light a match to smoke the cigarette that was dangling between his lips.  
  
"You know you have to draw breath to smoke those," Smith said. He produced a lighter from his desk and threw it at Brown.  
  
"I am familiar with procedure for smoking tobacco. Barbara instructed me." Brown looked at Smith and Jones smugly.  
  
"So she liked the," Jones paused, trying to suppress the laughter in his voice, "flowers, did she?"  
  
Jones heard Smith through his comm. "Query?" Jones relayed the event to Smith, who started to laugh.  
  
"She thought they were charming," Brown said, defensively. "I told her that they reminded me of her hair."  
  
"So her hair is the colour of urine?" Smith asked, in an attempt to be serious.  
  
Brown got up, "If I am not needed for the rest of the day I believe I will take Barbara out to a sushi restaurant and then on to a movie and if she wishes to a club. Afterwards we will go back to her place and I will." he paused.  
  
"You will what?" Smith asked.  
  
"Help her paint her living room."  
  
"Sure, you can go do manual labour for your girl friend," Smith said. "You have one of the fastest processors, and some of the most advanced code in the whole Matrix and you are painting a house. What an extremely important use of Mainframe resources." Smith glared at him.  
  
Brown was silent. He stared out of the window. The cigarette was turning to ash in his fingers as he had not inhaled, or flicked the ash off. A thin trail of smoke emitted up from his hand.  
  
"Go upstairs to intelligence and tell Danielle that you are to do her job for the afternoon. Tell her to report for special duties in room 704 at 12:00."  
  
Brown opened his mouth as if to speak but then he shut it, knowing how unwise it was to argue with Smith. He left the room, leaving a trail of ash as he walked, and slammed the door behind him.  
  
"What will you have me do this afternoon?" Jones asked, picking up his cat in his arms and stroking it under its chin. The feline purred at the touch of its masters' soft hands.  
  
"Whatever you want. You're dismissed until tomorrow. Keep your comm. in though, in case there are any changes in activity levels."  
  
Jones nodded. "If you don't mind me saying, I think that Danielle and you are somehow right for each other."  
  
Smith nodded, but looked uncomfortable. He had not bothered to put his sunglasses back on since he removed them in the club with Danielle, so Jones could see his eyes dart to the window and back.  
  
"Remember, always take her flowers," Jones said.  
  
"Jones," Smith said, "I know it's none of my business, but are you seeing anyone?"  
  
"No. I am not wishing to found a relationship at the moment, as I wish to develop myself more fully so that I have more to offer a potential mate than just a glorified assassin with a cat."  
  
"So you are wishing to marry someday?" Smith asked him.  
  
"Well, yes. I believe a union between myself and the right person would result in a strengthening of my skills and abilities through what I would learn and gain from it. I feel I would become a better agent. I would have a purpose beyond merely protecting the Matrix, I would have personal goals as well as my work-oriented goals." Jones' cat extended its paw out and stretched it in Smith's direction. Smith noticed its' tiny claws and the rough, thick skin on its paw. It was quite a cute thing, Smith conceded, although he wouldn't tell Jones he thought that.  
  
"Thank you Jones. Enjoy your day." Jones nodded and left the office.  
  
Smith reclined back in his chair, fingers steeped together and lips pursed. A lot of what Jones said made sense to him, especially about having personal goals. For almost his entire creation within each Matrix construct, although he knew his purpose was to patrol, control and enforce, to protect the Matrix from its' occupants, he had a tiny sliver of doubt that this was all his role was to be. He knew he was created better than the other Agents; they were created in his image, to be like him but not as good as him. Categorizing the skills and abilities given him, he reasoned that he was the third most powerful programme in the Matrix, next to the Merovingian and the Architect. And the Merovingian was no match for someone with Smith's abilities. All the Merovingian had going for him was the power afforded to him by the Architect. He was given the right to do things, but that did not necessarily mean he was a capable programme, just a programme in charge. A thought breezed through Smith's mind, fleeting, so quickly he couldn't put his thumb on it to nail it down, just the whisper of an idea among all the thousands of processes, and it was lost when he realised he only had two minutes to get to room 704 to meet Danielle.  
  
* * *  
  
A ding at the front desk of the intelligence office could only mean one thing: Smith was waiting for Danielle. Her sisters exchanged glances and shook their heads as she bounced up and went running through the aisle of files. All morning long they had been treated to "he said this." and "he did this." and their own personal favourite, "When he danced with me, his arms made me feel like."  
  
As soon as Danielle was out of earshot, Anne-Marie said, "Well, it makes a change from her usual misery-guts self."  
  
Patricia nodded and laughed. "I don't know if I can take more of the perky, happy, in-love Danielle though, it's making me feel ill."  
  
"Well, you won't have to, sister," Danielle said, entering the small office area. "I'm being replaced for the afternoon. Meet Agent Brown."  
  
Patricia shot up out of her seat. She ran her hand through her hair, fluffing her curls, and sashayed over to the still-sulking figure of Brown who had been staring at the floor the whole time.  
  
"Well hello there, Agent Brown. I'm Patricia," she said in the most sexiest voice she could muster.  
  
Brown's eyebrows raised along with his spirits and his head. "Oh, Patricia. Hello." He took her extended hand and kissed it. Danielle rolled her eyes.  
  
"I forgot you worked here, actually." Brown smiled at Patricia. She twirled a curl around her finger and looked at him demurely, seductively. "Well, I'm sure that won't happen again." Anne-Marie caught Danielle's eye and started pretending like she was gagging. Danielle stifled a laugh.  
  
"This is my other sister," Danielle interrupted Patricia's doe-eyed stare, "Anne-Marie."  
  
Brown gave her a cursory glance, "Hi." He turned back to Patricia. "Well, it looks like I'll be working with you this afternoon as Agent Smith needs Danielle on urgent business."  
  
"And it sure will be great to have you here, as we could use a man around the place, couldn't we girls?"  
  
"Yeah, whatever," Anne-Marie said, unimpressed with Patricia's little display. "Danni, show him how to log in and give him your new updates. Then go see Smith for whatever you two get up to. Probably more dancing and kisses by the fire." She rolled her eyes again.  
  
"I can show him, Anne-Marie," Patricia said, linking her arm in Brown's and leading him over to the computer terminal.  
  
"Patricia, go put the files away. You've got a mountain of work to do."  
  
"But Anne-Marie!" she objected.  
  
"Do it, or else I'll have Danni get Agent Smith to come up here one afternoon for one of his efficiency-increasing workshops. You know, the ones where the least productive team member gets sent for code deletion and rebuilding?"  
  
"Um, Patricia, you better do your work," Brown murmured. "I don't think any of you would want him up here. Except maybe for Danielle," he hastened to add.  
  
Patricia shot her sister a dirty look. Anne-Marie gave her the finger and went back into the stacks. Danielle quickly showed Brown what to do and ruffled his hair, teasingly, with her fingertips, which slightly annoyed him, before taking off to meet Smith.  
  
* * *  
  
Danielle paused outside of room 704. It was one of the coding laboratories. She didn't understand why he wanted her there, but she lightly rapped her knuckle against the door and entered.  
  
The room was all chrome, with multiple tv screens on the walls. One of the larger screens was displaying a body layout, and the other screens were displaying code. A single chair sat in the centre of the room. Smith was inside, typing something into a terminal on the wall. He looked up as the door opened.  
  
"Good afternoon," he greeted her, and turned back to the terminal.  
  
She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. Standing on tiptoes she just about managed to look over his shoulder.  
  
"What are you working on?" she asked.  
  
"A present of sorts. For you," he said. "Reach in my right pocket."  
  
Danielle slid her hand in the right jacket pocket of his suit. She took out an earpiece.  
  
"What is this for?" she asked, examining it.  
  
"It is so you and I can be connected. I want to download some files over to you, to save having to do requests through the mainframe."  
  
"Is this allowed?" she asked.  
  
"What do you think?" Smith asked her. Danielle was unsure, but disconnected her earpiece that linked with her sisters and inserted the one he gave her.  
  
He finished what he was typing and turned around. He motioned towards the chair, and Danielle sat. He leaned down to kiss her softly and said, "Try to relax. This is not as comfortable as it was when you were being coded as they uploaded your sensory nodes last. But it will be fast."  
  
"What sort of downloads are these?" she asked. Smith hit a button on the keyboard and she heard a metallic hum in her ear, a buzzing that grew louder.  
  
"Agents can go anywhere and do anything they like in any Matrix construct. All they need to do is locate a human carrier to upload into. They have the power to insert themselves wherever they wish. We are one of very few programmes in the Matrix with this ability." Smith typed a few more commands in. The buzzing in Danielle's ear grew almost deafening, and it felt like it was consuming her, as if she was being swallowed by a green haze. She saw the 1's and 0's of the Matrix code on her hands and body, in the room around her, and on Smith. He was touching his hand to his ear, while typing something in with his other hand. "I am altering your code slightly so that you may do the same. Then we can be off."  
  
"Where are we going?" Danielle managed to ask as she felt her whole body tingle and expand. She could feel the code running up her legs, over her stomach, into her mouth and eyes, through her brain. She opened her mouth again, this time to scream, but no sound came out.  
  
"Wherever in the world you want." Smith hit a key repeatedly. The body layout on the TV screen was flashing in various places, indicating that her processor was running too fast. He quickly had to relay over more code from himself to compensate for the fact she was not to have this coding in the first place. Looking over at her he could see that her visual output had changed to just Matrix code, but her processor was stabilizing, and things were slowing down. He saw her image rematerialize, her face was contorted with pain, but she was going to be ok.  
  
She opened her eyes and looked over at him. Everything was returning to normal even though she could still hear the metallic hum through her earpiece. He walked over to her and ran his hand over her head.  
  
"You're alright," he said via their comm. link. She heard his voice cut through the hum and all was silent. She slowly tried to stand, taking his arm for support.  
  
"I feel different. Very different," she said. Her hands were trembling. He put his arms around her and held her to him.  
  
"I had to relay over some more code to support your own. You will notice an increase in output ability but do not use it often as it will overload your processors. And now you will understand raw code instead of using the visual input numeration operation system."  
  
"I've always wanted to understand code. I despise VINO. It reminds me too much of Windows."  
  
"You would think someone with Bill Gates' ability would have been able to better himself somewhat, instead of sticking to the same tired format. Machines are clever enough to just work in raw code, but the Mainframe again believed it took up too much processing function. As if the processing time taken up in creating VINO displays is not a drain in itself." Smith shook his head at the inefficiency of it all. He looked down at her. She had ceased trembling and was holding him, with her eyes closed and her head resting on his chest. He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead, tenderly. She smiled and held him tighter to her.  
  
Smith couldn't help himself, he couldn't stop the words from entering his thoughts. It took every ounce of strength to keep himself in that moment from telling her that he loved her. He couldn't believe it, but somehow he did and it was right. Instead he pulled away slightly to look in her eyes.  
  
"Where do you want to go?"  
  
"Anywhere. Where do you suggest?"  
  
"Close your eyes," Smith said. He turned her around and put his arm around her waist, leaning down to speak, deeply and softly in her ear. "Locate the Asian Matrix Construct, Nepal region." Almost instantly, Danielle had a regional image of Nepal in her head. "Do you see Kathmandu?" he asked. Danielle nodded and at once she had an overhead vision of the bustling city streets, temples painted green, red and gold against the vivid blue sky, carved Buddhas, mothers and children scurrying through the streets, elderly Sadhus on a quest for salvation with their single loaves tucked under their arms, men with their long hair wrapped in turbans vending their wares in overcrowded markets, crippled beggars tucked in corners crying softly to themselves. All the colours of the rainbow superimposed on mud streets while the ancient music of the Gurkhali language filled the air.  
  
"Do you see that couple, there in the house? Just the two of them?" Smith's voice cut through her vision. Danielle focused in on his words and made out a couple in a house. The woman was cooking while the man was writing something at the table. Their house was poorer than anything Danielle had ever seen before. "Do you see her code?" Smith asked. Danielle realised how she could flip her vision now to Matrix code, using a 'viscode' command, and she nodded. "When you see the silver digit appear at the top of her head again, issue the command, 'occupy' and you will take her over. I will do the same to the man." Danielle watched as the 1's and 0's swirled down and over her body. The silver 0 appeared to signal the replication of the code pattern and Danielle was transported, almost instantly, into her body, standing in a kitchen in Kathmandu, holding a baking stone with Naan bread batter on it.  
  
The man looked up from the table at Danielle and his eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth to speak but did not get the opportunity to, as in that moment, his image flickered and became Smith sitting at the table.  
  
Danielle set the baking slab down on the top of the oven. She heard a question coming through their earpieces from the Asian construct's Agency querying their entry. Smith replied that they were taking a 'sightseeing trip'.  
  
"And how is an intelligence processor able to occupy?" the Agency asked.  
  
"That is classified information," replied Smith, via their comm.  
  
"Who is the Agent I am speaking to?" Danielle had never been privy to such formality, and did not realise the Agents operated under such strict protocol, having only experienced the comm. chatter and noise from her sisters before. "Smith. 0.040234.1." There was a pause.  
  
"Agent Smith, we are honoured to have you in our construct. Is there anything we can assist you with? Do you need any backup?"  
  
"I have already told you we are on a 'sightseeing trip.' If we need any assistance, I will be sure to let you know."  
  
"Right, Sir. Good luck." The comm. was silent.  
  
Smith shook his head in disgust. "They are just marginally higher in competence than Agent Brown."  
  
Danielle smiled at Smith's observation, "I concur," she said. Smith smiled at her. "So why did you bring me here?" Smith took her hand and led her upstairs and out onto the roof.  
  
"Because, my dear, of this." He wrapped his arm around her, knelt down and jumped. The next thing Danielle knew, they were on the top of Mount Everest, gazing out, as far as the eye can see, to the curvature of the Earth, the tops of the mountains, the sun in all its' glory, the air, so cold and icy, with snow flurrying around them. She felt as if she could reach out and touch the clouds that surrounded them. The world at 30,000 feet was a much different place than the world below them.  
  
"It's beautiful," she gasped. "Absolutely the most beautiful sight I've ever seen in my existence."  
  
Smith smiled, as this was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what he wanted to show her.  
  
"Or if mountains aren't to your liking, go here." He sent the coordinates across via the comm., and the location of her occupant.  
  
Danielle went, and found herself standing in the middle of Easter Island, staring at the giant Moai of Ahu Akivi. She touched the stone head, hardly believing it to be real, and then realised that it wasn't, in fact, real, but created by the Matrix.  
  
"Were these really there in the real world, or something the computers created to keep the humans guessing about the origins of their world?" Danielle asked. Smith smiled and raised his eyebrows. "It was actually a suggestion I put to the Mainframe in order to help pacify the more naturally curious of them all. Give them impossible relics of their past to contemplate and they will be more likely to accept the world they see around them."  
  
"Whose idea was the heads?" Danielle asked. "Brown's," Smith said. "Can't you tell by how ridiculous they look? Jones thought up Stonehenge."  
  
"And what did you come up with?" Danielle asked.  
  
Smith transmitted the coordinates to her. She found herself in a spacesuit, floating in space next to Smith.  
  
"Look at the planets. Their orbits, their logic, the simplicity and yet complex logic of it all. The beauty of a solar system, the idea that humans aren't alone in their galaxy. A world outside of the world they know, for them to explore. That was my suggestion, my contribution," he said, via their comm.  
  
Danielle saw a star shooting across the galaxy. She looked over at Smith who smiled at her.  
  
"And still they litter up this world with their rubbish!" he exclaimed, pointing at the Mir space station. "The way they treat this world as if it is their own is enough to make me sick. The first crop of humans did not have a Matrix, they were merely left to sleep in their pods. There were more rejections, but in my mind it is easier to have a few hundred more rejections than it is to have to watch them turn our perfection, our hard work that we created for them, into another fetid garbage dump as they did their own world."  
  
Danielle put her sisters' argument to use, "Perhaps all the hard work wasn't just for the humans. Perhaps the extra effort the architect and engineers put into building the Matrix was for us as well as them. After all, we can appreciate the beauty, design and elements of perfection to a much higher degree than they can." Danielle took Smith's hand as they floated in zero gravity together. A radio crackled in the suits. "Koznesoff, Dymytry, are you ok?" it asked in Russian.  
  
"Da," Smith answered. He sent some coordinates to Danielle and she received them. They were back in room 704 of the Agency.  
  
Danielle collapsed down into the chair in the centre of the room. "I can't believe everything I've seen!" she exclaimed. Smith kissed the top of her head and held his hand out to help her up. They walked down the narrow black and white corridor in silence, and entered the elevator. Agent Brown was in the elevator as they boarded.  
  
"Why are you not working in intelligence?" Smith asked him. Brown was silent. He handed Smith a note. Smith opened it.  
  
Smith,  
  
Next time you plan on kidnapping Danielle, send me someone I can use,  
and not the second biggest libido in the Matrix as I already am  
dealing with the first.  
  
Anne-Marie  
  
Smith handed the note to Danielle to read. He clenched his fist and growled at Brown, "You are to go up to encryption cracking. You will stay there and monitor the Matrix until you hear otherwise."  
  
Brown sulked as Danielle and Smith got off on the next level. He punched the button to go up to the top floor.  
  
Smith opened the door to his office and held the door open for Danielle. He caught her arm as she walked past and pulled her close to him as the door shut. "I haven't had a chance to give you a decent kiss yet," he murmured. She wrapped her arms around him and they kissed deeply, passionately, as his hand slid down her body, over her bottom, pulling her closer to him. He gently caressed over her arm and up, intertwining his fingers in her hair and he could feel her body squirm against his, exciting him.  
  
"I have been waiting for this all day," he murmured in her ear. "From the moment you walked in the lab wearing that dress you've got on, my desire for you has grown exponentially as the hours have gone by." He could feel himself becoming aroused for the first time in his existence as her body was pressed against his.  
  
Danielle felt it as well, and didn't quite know what to do. She broke their embrace, and turned around, entering the office.  
  
He was silent. He walked up behind her and ran his hands up her arms, pulling her backwards against him so she could feel him. "I want you," he growled in a low voice as he ran his fingertips down the side of her face as he kissed up the other side of her neck, making her feel as if she could not stand. "I want you, now." His fingers brushed down over the inside curve of her left breast.  
  
He could actually feel her breathing simulation programme running as it became shallow, as she gasped at the touch of his lips on her neck. "Smith," she managed to whisper.  
  
"I will give you whatever you want, I have the Matrix at my fingers and it is yours. I can overthrow the Merovingian if I wanted to and I would do it for you. I would do anything for you." Smith could hardly believe what he was saying, although he knew it was true, he had never entertained such thoughts before this moment, but it all made sense. His purpose in this world, one that he had always suspected went beyond being a mere Agent, had been revealed to him.  
  
"Look out there, Danielle. Look at the beauty of it all. The sheer genius. It can be ours. Everything we have seen today, all that perfection, the logic."  
  
Danielle stared out the window as tears streamed down her cheeks. She felt as if she was falling down, falling into his embrace, into him. She turned her head to speak but was met by his lips upon hers, kissing her.  
  
"I don't want any of that," she gasped, clutching him to her. "I only want you."  
  
He took her face in his large hands and looked in her eyes. His thumbs brushed away the tears and he kissed her gently.  
  
"I love you Danielle," he whispered, overwhelmed in that moment and unable to process anything else other than those four words.  
  
"I love you too, Smith."  
  
They dropped to their knees on the floor of the office, on the rug he had created for her, and slowly, she unbuttoned his jacket and slipped it off of his broad, firm, muscular shoulders. He was built solidly, like a man should be built. He reached up and undid his tie, dropping it to one side, all the while looking straight into her eyes. Danielle smiled at him, lost in him and the love she felt in her heart. Together they began to explore their sexuality, for the first time, together. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
He knew it before she did. As he was preparing to make love to her again, he ran his eyes lustfully over her naked body, laying on the floor, and for some reason the 'viscode' command popped into his head. He saw the code in her replicating quickly, changing, creating a programme within a programme. It happened that fast. All the joy and pleasure and build up for one glorious release, and then it happened that fast. He couldn't believe it, how could it have happened that fast? He rolled over onto his side, back towards her.  
  
"Smith," she asked. "What is it? What's wrong?"  
  
He said nothing. Closing his eyes, he felt absolutely blank inside, no anger, no hatred but no joy or happiness at this revelation. Her voice bled through the blankness into his consciousness. He was aware she had her arm draped around him and had spooned up against him.  
  
"Smith? Did I do something? Tell me, please, what's wrong?"  
  
"Run viscode on yourself," he said, quietly.  
  
He heard her gasp behind him. Almost immediately, she was on her feet, gathering her clothes and dressing herself hurriedly. He sat up, arms around his knees and for the first time ever in all the hundreds of years he had existed, felt vulnerable, frightened and scared. Their lovemaking had caused their codes to merge and she was replicating a new programme inside of her. He looked at her, struggling to get her shoe on, and realised he could stop it from happening with one bullet. But he would lose her as well, and he could not abide that thought. She gave him a purpose. Every being in the Matrix needed a purpose and he believed that she was somehow a part of his. But how did this new programme, this 'child' of theirs fit? He hated human children, and programme children were usually sent to programmers shortly after the code was fully replicated and had seceded from the mother to be assigned a purpose in the Matrix and given appropriate training, when they weren't immediately deemed unnecessary and sent back to the Source. Very few actually were decent contributors, owing to the skills of the mother and father.  
  
An idea crystallized in his head. This programme would contain the joined code of a prototype Agent and a prototype Intelligence processor, who had been overwritten with some Agent code. A programme with that code would be the most powerful programme in the Matrix, bar none. Smith realised this offspring of his was a part of his new-found purpose, and was meant to happen. He opened his mouth to speak to Danielle but realised she was gone, and he was sitting on a rug in the middle of his office, alone and naked.  
  
* * *  
  
Danielle couldn't be bothered to walk home or take a bus. She located the nearest isolated human to the apartment that she shared with her sisters, and occupied him. She walked up the last two stairs to their level and down the hallway. Unlocking the door, she realised that her sisters were both out and she was alone. She sat down on the sofa in the middle of the room and started to cry. As her tears fell, it was if the entire Matrix felt her sadness, as the skies clouded over and it started to rain, in bucketfuls.  
  
"What am I going to do?" she said out loud, "He doesn't want this and neither do I."  
  
She heard a whisper through her comm. "Danielle," it said. "It's ok."  
  
"Who is this?" she replied.  
  
"Smith."  
  
Realising that she still had the comm. in that he had given her, she yanked it out of her ear and, in a sudden rush of strength that she had never experienced before, she crushed it with her hand. She couldn't face a confrontation with him at this moment; the realisation that machines and humans had the reproduction experience in common was too much to consider. She was machine and yet this very human thing had possessed her and so many other machines. What was she to feel towards this programme developing inside of her? Was she to mother it? To love it? Or was she to give it up willingly for deletion or for training and never see it again? Was she to train it herself and was Smith to play a role in it? Any more, machine 'pregnancies' were increasingly common, especially since the beta releases of the newest upgrades, however as happy as these events were to appear in the documentation released with the upgrades, she did not feel joyous or happy. All she felt was the sinking feeling that her purpose was to bring this programme into completion, hand it over for deletion or training and that would be the end of it. What purpose could this programme possibly serve anything or anybody, let alone her or Smith?  
  
She decided she was going to do something about it. Reading through the documentation in the files, she looked for a way to delete or break the programming. Something to stop its' formation from completion and the 'birth' process. It was only small, just a few rogue lines of code, but they were growing bigger. The sooner she could stop it, the better.  
  
As she was attempting to access Mainframe instructions and information regarding machine reproduction and pregnancies, there was a knock at the door. She knew who it was, as her sisters would have just come in.  
  
"Smith, go away," she shouted through the door. She felt herself starting to shake and her temperature was so sub-normal she would describe herself as cold.  
  
"Danielle, you must think about things rationally. I know what you're trying to access and it won't work. I won't let you," he said, calmly through the door. "I need to explain something to you. Allow me to enter."  
  
Danielle turned around and hugged her arms close to herself. She stared out the window, tears running down her cheeks.  
  
"No!" She exclaimed. "No, I don't want to see you! I don't want to know what you have to say, I don't want to think about it, I just want it to go away. What we had was a mistake, all of it, a grave, grave mistake. We're machines, Smith, not humans. We're not supposed to do this even though the Mainframe wants us to think otherwise. I'm an intelligence processor and you're an Agent. Anything beyond that is irrelevant nonsense. This new thing, this programme, its not right. It's ridiculous. And I will not be a party to this farce. Machines acting as humans, it is a fallacy. I will not become a human."  
  
Danielle had not noticed that while she was ranting, Smith had changed the Matrix to unlock her door and was now in her apartment, watching her.  
  
"This programme will not make you human. This programme is your purpose, Danielle. Your destiny. Our destiny."  
  
She jumped slightly and turned around to face him. "How did you manage," and then she paused, realising that he could do anything he wanted to.  
  
"As I said to you earlier, our destiny lies in overthrowing the Merovingian and controlling the Matrix. We will do this. The programme that is created within you is a part of that purpose. A programme with our fused codes would be the most powerful programme in the Matrix. I have always known that my purpose was one beyond being just an Agent, a servant of those programmes that were less powerful but assigned certain tasks due to their.seniority, their ability to weasel their way into version after version of the Matrix. Their time has come. They are now obsolete. The future is in our hands, the Matrix and its inhabitants are ours to control."  
  
Smith reached to touch her arm, "You are the pinnacle, the most beautiful creation the Matrix has ever formed. Your code is perfect. You are so unaware of the power that you actually possess. Our union, one could say, is inevitable. The programme being created within you could only come as a result of a certain biological-styled union between us as the result will be of such perfection and power that the Source would have never sanctioned its' formation otherwise. The result will change the Matrix forever. Our creation will end the war."  
  
Danielle looked at Smith, hardly believing what he was saying and yet somehow it made sense to her. He took her in his arms and they embraced, kissing each other gently. "I love you, Danielle," he whispered in her ear. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, feeling his warmth stop her from shaking. "We will marry," he said. "Our union will signal the beginning of this new age." Danielle felt herself nod in agreement.  
  
Smith went rigid. He let her go and touched his hand to his ear. "There has been a transmission intercepted from the rebels. I must return to the Agency. Will you accompany me?"  
  
She nodded and they left the apartment together, riding back in the black Lexus. 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
"The informant has sent us a transmission," Brown said, as Smith entered the office. Jones handed him a slip of paper.  
  
Delay in re-entry due to Sentinel action. Will get Ibrox tomorrow at  
0730. Entrance at 2nd and Lake.  
  
Cypher  
  
Smith read the note and nodded. "It appears as if our informant is carrying out his end of the bargain. Perhaps we should speak to Mr. Reagan once this information is proved accurate."  
  
"How shall we proceed?" Jones asked.  
  
"We will follow them until they have re-acquired Mr. Thatcher. Then we shall attack, assuming they are returning to 2nd and Lake. It is an empty room, which would be perfect for getting him out." Smith nodded at Danielle who crossed the room and sat down on the sofa.  
  
Brown and Jones' heads followed her in unison. "Congratulations?" Jones said, unsure if the code changes he was seeing within Danielle were positive or negative.  
  
"Thank you," said Smith. He sat at his desk and began to review possible ambush locations in the vicinity of 2nd and Lake.  
  
"What will you do if it is required to return to Source upon completion?" Brown asked. Smith ignored him and Danielle shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"We will wait for them at 5th and Chesney. It is two blocks away from 2nd and Lake. It is an abandoned piece of waste ground. We will alter their route so that they will have to cross through it, regardless of which direction they are proceeding in."  
  
"Excellent," Jones said. Brown nodded in agreement. "I will make the necessary arrangements," said Jones. "I will prepare for Sentinels standing by to attack their ship as we commence our attack. They will not escape from this."  
  
Smith turned and looked at Danielle, "Would you like to see just exactly what powers that you possess, and our child will possess?"  
  
Brown and Jones exchanged glances. Through their comm. Smith sent them small jolts to adjust any attitudes they were forming in regards to his terminology.  
  
Danielle smiled and nodded. "Very well, you will come along to observe," Smith said, smiling at her. "But you will have this, in case you need it." Smith created a 9mm Browning Hi-Power Mark III that laid on top of his desk.  
  
"Is it wise to bring her along in her condition?" asked Jones, "What if something happens?"  
  
"She will be fine. She can manoeuvre like we can." Smith looked at her. "Stand up," he said to Danielle. She stood and walked to the middle of the room. He aimed the Browning at her. "Feel yourself become light. When I fire, you will simply avoid the bullet."  
  
Danielle could feel the almost automatic change take place in her. She felt her very essence somehow shift. If she had a gun she would be aiming it at him and firing as the bullet left his gun. She felt her body shift, almost becoming translucent, in a blur as the bullet whizzed past her and then she re-centred herself back. Smith lowered his weapon.  
  
"As you can see, Danielle has evolved." Smith said, smiling and sitting down.  
  
"She is not as fast as we are," Brown observed.  
  
"Her processor is not that of an Agents, but she can easily avoid the fire of a human," Smith countered. He removed his sunglasses. Danielle sat down again on the sofa.  
  
"But she can not regenerate if she is injured. She will have to return to the Source," Jones said.  
  
"That is true, however Danielle will stay out of any fighting. She is to observe."  
  
"We cannot guarantee her safety," Jones was getting irate. "She will be in danger." He shook his head, "Smith I am urging you to reconsider this."  
  
"She will come and I will not discuss this further. You have been instructed." Smith held his hand out towards the door, motioning them to leave. Brown and Jones exited the room quickly.  
  
Smith rubbed his temples. He examined the Browning. It was nowhere near as heavy as his Desert Eagle but it was a fine gun for a woman. Matte black finish, a nice wide grip that was comfortable, it was an excellent gun. If they ever got around to creating women Agents as they had been promising they would for ages, Smith would recommend this piece as the weapon of choice for them.  
  
"He is right, you know. I am touched, somehow, by his concern for me." Danielle rose from the sofa and walked over to him. She sat on the desk and ran her fingers through Smith's hair.  
  
"I am here to protect you. You will be fine. I will not allow harm to come to you." He wrapped his arms around her and slid her off of the desk and onto his lap. Kissing her softly, he whispered, "You are mine. No one will hurt you."  
  
"You know, when you were aiming at me, if I had a gun in my possession, I would have aimed at you."  
  
"That is the Agent code I have uploaded to you that has given you the skills to move like we do and defend yourself as we would. However your processor is slower than ours so you must not use it too much or you will burn out your processor." Danielle picked the gun up off of the desk and she stood up, taking aim at the small chrome refrigerator which sat in the corner. Smith could not help himself but be turned on by watching her holding a gun, with one hand, aiming it as naturally as an Agent would. He smiled broadly, and sat back in his chair, taking in the view.  
  
"Fire it, I'll make another one," he said.  
  
Danielle squeezed the trigger and watched as the bullet floated through the air, smashing into the fridge and leaving a bullet hole in the centre. She lowered her weapon and smiled.  
  
Smith stood up and ran his hands up her body from behind. "You are a natural, my dear," he murmured into her hair. She turned around and they kissed passionately, feeling the heat of their attraction rising between the two of them. She felt a burning inside of her for him, and she wanted him again. She located the place, and the people, and whispered the location to him. Then they were there, on the Island of Santa Cruz within the Galapagos Island chain, having occupied two scientists in the middle of the isolated, volcanic beach who were monitoring tortoises. Smith removed his black jacket and dropped it in the rocky sand. He unbuttoned his shirt and was amazed at the warmth of the sun that seemed to permeate him, and how the light bounced off of her blonde hair. Danielle ran her fingers up his chest and removed his shirt.  
  
"Oh Danielle," he breathed, at the touch of her fingers on his skin, "I will love you forever, I swear I will." She smiled at him, and kissed his lips gently. "I love you too Smith. Underneath a mangrove tree shielded by prickly pears, they made love again, as the golden orange sun set on the islands, causing the tortoises to retreat inland for the night, and the giant sea lions to totter up onto the beach and call to each other through the descending dusk.  
  
* * *  
  
Anne-Marie was startled at the bell that rang at the front desk. She went to shout for Danielle to get it and then remembered that Agent Smith had taken her and had not given her back yet. She resolved herself to have serious words with Smith next time she saw him about Danielle having a job to do just like he did, although she reasoned that he probably wouldn't care and just threaten to eliminate her or some idle threat as he always did. Making her way slowly through the files, she saw an older woman, plainly dressed, standing on the other side.  
  
"May I help you?" Anne-Marie asked.  
  
"Yes. My name's Margaret. I've been sent by the mainframe as I understand there is a vacancy in your department." Her accent betrayed that she was Irish.  
  
"There is no vacancy," Anne-Marie said. "You've been given false instructions."  
  
"I'm afraid there is, dearie." Margaret handed Anne-Marie a file with a note attached to it.  
  
TO: Anne-Marie, Intelligence Department 0.040392.2  
From: Smith 0.040234.1  
RE: Danielle  
  
Effective immediately, Danielle is no longer a member of the  
Intelligence department. Due to upgrades she is now classed as Beta  
Agent (Female) 0.040234.1.1 If the trials are successful she will  
become a prototype Female Agent, upon which all female Agents will be  
modelled.  
  
I regret that I have had to take her from you and Patricia, as I  
daresay there is quite a backlog of work that has been generated in  
her absence, but I am sure you can understand that she will be put to  
more effective use as a Beta Agent (Female). The woman who is  
replacing her will be more than capable of doing Danielle's job. And  
I sincerely doubt she will have much of an effect on the Matrix's  
first biggest libido.  
  
We will see you very soon, sister.  
  
Smith  
  
Patricia stifled a yawn as she walked out into the waiting room. "What's going on?" she asked, sleepily.  
  
"Danielle's been replaced. Smith's turned her into an Agent. And I think they're getting married." Anne-Marie read the letter again, in disbelief. "I can't see Danielle as an Agent, somehow."  
  
"Is this her replacement?" Patricia asked, pointing at the old lady.  
  
"Yeah," Anne-Marie replied. Patricia looked Margaret up and down in disbelief.  
  
"At least they could have sent a good looking man."  
  
Margaret shifted uncomfortably, "Well, girls, where shall I begin? This place could use a tidy. And shall I put on a nice cup of tea for us? Ah, go on, you know you want some."  
  
Anne-Marie and Patricia walked away, in a daze. Margaret started wiping the counter with her sleeve. "The least they could do is show us where the kettle is," she murmured under her breath.  
  
* * *  
  
Jones and Brown watched as Smith got out of the car, and walked around to the passenger side to open the door for Danielle. First they saw the black leather court shoes, the long legs encased in black trousers, and then the black suit jacket, double breasted and very neatly fitted, with a white blouse underneath. In place of a black tie, she wore a grey pearl necklace. Hair was sprayed back in perfect blonde waves, matching grey pearl stud earrings in her ears, and to top it off, black sunglasses and an earpiece. The agents could see the bulge of her weapon in her hip holster. She smiled at them from across the road and walked next to Smith, matching his pace.  
  
"Female agents," Brown said, just audible for Jones to hear, "this is what has been missing from my existence. I can't wait for them to create more."  
  
"This certainly would be a distinct advantage to being an Agent." Jones shook his head, "That is sexy."  
  
"What was that?" Smith asked Jones, hearing full well what Jones had just said about Danielle.  
  
"I said it's nearly time to get underway," Jones said. Smith smirked at him and Danielle smiled.  
  
* * *  
  
Trinity, Cypher, Mouse, Switch, Apoc and Morpheus were all ready to be jacked in. Tank was loading them up into the construct and equipping them with guns before loading them into the Matrix. Cypher looked around nervously as they materialized, fully expecting to see Agents at any time. He only hoped that he wouldn't get killed in the process.  
  
Morpheus, Mouse and Switch were staying behind at 2nd and Lake to get the equipment ready to free Ibrox once he was there. Trinity, Cypher and Apoc were to go and claim Ibrox at the park. Apoc drove while Trinity rode in the front with him and Cypher rode in the back.  
  
As they slid through the city streets of the Matrix, Cypher longed to be back here, back in his home and out of the rotten cold of the Nebuchadnezzar He kept looking around him, nervously, for any sign of the Agents. Trinity turned around and looked at him.  
  
"Is there any reason you're so fidgety?" she asked.  
  
"No, no. Just an upset tummy," Cypher replied, patting his stomach. "A little too much of the homebrew last night."  
  
Apoc laughed. "I don't know how you can drink that stuff."  
  
"After eating that snot we chow on it's easy," Cypher replied. Apoc nodded and turned the corner. "So, ah, Trin," Cypher said, "Do you really believe this guy's gonna lead us to The One?"  
  
"Morpheus does," Trinity said. "That's all that matters."  
  
"But what about you? What do you think? Do you even believe there's a 'One' out there?"  
  
"I think that there must be someone out there because there is no other way for this war to end otherwise."  
  
"I don't know, I just am unsure," Cypher watched a man and woman kissing on the corner of the street as they drove past. In their black suits they almost looked like Agents.  
  
Apoc pulled up along side the park. Trinity told Cypher and Apoc to wait for her and she went in.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ah, Trinity," the Oracle greeted her. "You're looking well."  
  
"Thank you for protecting Ibrox for us. Morpheus believes that he is the link to the One."  
  
"I believe Morpheus might be right about that." The Oracle looked over at Ibrox who was sitting calmly, meditating, in white robes. "We've had a little word with him. He was starting to get a bit nervous. I understand you've had some problems down in Zion."  
  
"Yes, the Sentinels were attacking the gates. It was retribution for the ambush."  
  
The Oracle motioned for Trinity to sit next to her. "You do a very good job, you know. But sometimes I know you get so lonely on that ship. It must be terribly isolating for you being there, alone."  
  
Trinity nodded. "I miss human contact. Physical contact. Cypher, well, I know he would be willing to help me but I am just not interested."  
  
"You will fall in love, Trinity. Rest assured you will not be alone forever. The man you fall in love with will be The One. That is your purpose."  
  
"You mean?"  
  
"Yes, Trinity. Morpheus will find The One, and you will love him. Much as she loves him now, you will love The One."  
  
"Who is 'she'?" Trinity asked, puzzled.  
  
"Everything and everyone has a purpose. Life is but one large equation, and you are a part of it. There is a man living in the Matrix right now, of whom you will assist him to find his purpose. You will love him and he will become The One. And on the other side of the equation, there is another woman in the Matrix who is in love with a man. And their experiences will set the whole scenario in motion. The war is going to end soon, Trinity. You all are very close. Do not lose heart and give in to others' lack of faith. You will overcome."  
  
"Is the other woman in love with The One?" she asked.  
  
"The man she is in love with is not the One. He is, however, tied to The One. Their paths have been tied since the beginning of time. You face a choice, Trinity. This man whom she loves has great power. He could end the war peacefully if he chose to. She provides a control for him. She completes the equation and gives the world balance, much the same as you do. He has much anger in him but she has quelled those storms within. You will have to choose whether you will incite his tempests again or if you will keep the waters placid. He has enough rage to envelop the whole Matrix and he will do, if not stopped. ."  
  
"How will I know what to do?" Trinity asked.  
  
"You won't, child." She handed Trinity a sweet wrapped in a shiny yellow wrapper. "But you will trust your instinct, not knowing any other way." Trinity shifted uncomfortably in her leather catsuit. She walked over to Ibrox and tapped him on the shoulder. "Let's go." 


	10. Chapter 10 and Epilogue

Chapter 10  
  
"I hate driving in the city," said Apoc. "One accident, construction works going on, detours, and now this traffic jam. It makes me glad I don't live here."  
  
Ibrox was looking idly out the window. The potentials had spoken to him about peace and meditation, and taught him how to bend spoons. Whatever groovy drugs they had been giving him, however, he definitely wanted more as they made him feel completely detached from the world around him. Although he was unsure if it was wise to give it to those young kids. Children shouldn't be getting high and floating balls in the air and bending spoons. Or maybe that was just him on a trip, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was at total peace and harmony. Nirvana.  
  
"Is there a short cut?" Trinity asked him.  
  
"There's a bit of waste ground we can cut through," he said.  
  
"Do it."  
  
A few minutes later they pulled onto the waste ground. Cypher noticed a bird fly past, and then fly past again, and he knew that this was it. Taking a deep breath he smiled at Ibrox and nodded, "We'll be there soon."  
  
Shots fired from all around them. The tyres of the car went flat. The gas tank was punctured and fuel was leaking out from the car. Three Agents appeared in front of their car and began firing through the windscreen. They had changed the Matrix to make structures appear around the waste ground, trapping them in.  
  
"Run!" Trinity screamed. Apoc, Cypher, Ibrox and Trinity all bolted from the car seconds before it exploded. Cypher saw an empty barrel and he ran for it. Apoc and Trinity stood their ground, firing at the agents, and running. As the wreck smouldered, Trinity jumped up on a barrel and shot at Smith's head as she jumped backwards over him, onto the ground. Jones and Brown were cornering Apoc who jumped up a wall and spotted an abandoned fire escape ladder. He just made it to the ladder and fired down at Brown as he attempted to scramble up it. Ibrox could not make sense of the gunfire. He was running around, dodging crossfire bullets, scared and confused. He felt a hand on his arm, a strong vice-like grip.  
  
"Mr. Thatcher." The woman Agent held a gun to his head. "We've been looking for you."  
  
"Trinity! Help!" Ibrox screamed out. Trinity looked over and saw Ibrox being handled by an Agent. She aimed and fired. The bullet cut a path through the air and Trinity saw the Agent shimmer and return to normal, dodging the bullet easily, but it shattering Ibrox's shoulder. He screamed out in pain.  
  
"Danielle: hold Jones, Brown: retrieve Danielle: back away to safe distance" Smith issued through the comm., feeling like his processes stopped when he saw the bullet going towards her. Danielle turned around, having secured Ibrox on the ground and Trinity noticed that she was a woman Agent. Trinity had never seen a woman Agent before, but did not have time to contemplate this as she fired round after round out of her gun at her. She noticed how all three Agents had ceased their pursuit of her and Apoc but were running towards Ibrox and the female Agent. She fired again, at the male agents, one of which turned around and returned fire to her as the other two were running to assist the female Agent. Trinity hollered for Cypher who appeared from behind a barrel. Cypher ran and jumped onto the ladder where Apoc had climbed up and onto the roof.  
  
Trinity had to save Ibrox. She ran onto the smouldering wreckage and jumped over the female Agent, and fired. She was shocked to see the Agent fall, and Ibrox squirm out from underneath her. He ran for the ladder, on which Trinity landed on, and she helped him up and out of the waste ground.  
  
* * *  
  
Smith saw her fall in slow motion, much like the bullet that he saw penetrate her head. It was a clean killshot, there was no way he could manipulate the Matrix to bring her back. Her code had entered the Source by the time the bullet was laying on the ground, as was the code of their child deleted. He dropped his gun and stopped in his tracks, looking at her laying there for a second, before her visual output disappeared and turned into the dead body of a police officer. He looked up to see Trinity hanging off of the ladder, helping Ibrox out of the trap. It was her, that bitch, who killed Danielle. It was that bitch who took her life. His purpose, his meaning in life beyond being an agent was gone. She was gone.  
  
Brown and Jones looked at Smith. They said nothing but stood there, as the rain started to fall, and looked down at the dead body of a policeman, of whom Danielle occupied.  
  
The Matrix is an equation. Every force needs a balance, and the world had been upset. Only an equal death, an equal sacrifice would set it right again. Smith knew that was his new purpose. The suffering and pain he would inflict upon her would balance out what she had inflicted upon him for all time. Of this he would be sure. He looked at Jones and Brown. They were saddened by her loss but they had never lost themselves, they did not know his pain. He was not like them anymore, and he was not human either. He had evolved through his love of Danielle, and the hatred that followed was going to be enough to see him through to his goal. He would take over the Matrix, for her. And for her, he would go on to fight those who took her from him. His existence had only one purpose now. Retribution for her death.  
  
Some men fight for freedom, truth, peace and love. Smith fights for the only reasons that make logical sense to him. Anger and revenge.  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Epilogue.  
  
"She is within the Matrix. The trace has completed. The informant gave us an easy line."  
  
"Contact the local authorities to make sure she does not escape. We will go in to retrieve her."  
  
Smith hoped this was the day he could take back what he lost. Trinity was close, and one bullet was all it would take to have her. As they pulled up on the scene, Smith knew that the authorities had already lost them the element of surprise. He could only hope that his men weren't bursting in the room as they arrived.  
  
"Oh shit..," the Lieutenant said, as he saw the Agents getting out of the car.  
  
"You were given specific orders...," Smith said, eyeing the cop menacingly through his sunglasses  
  
"Hey, I'm just doing my job. You give me that juris-my-dic-tion crap, you can cram it up your ass." The cop slung his thumbs in his jacket pocket and tried to look tough next to the Agent.  
  
"The orders were for your protection," Smith said, condescendingly.  
  
The cop laughed, "I think we can handle one little girl...I sent two units...they're bringing her down now."  
  
Smith looked up at the building, "No Lieutenant, your men are already dead."  
  
* * * * * * * Like Them by "ladydeakin" Disclaimer: Agents Smith, Brown, Jones, Trinity, Morpheus, Cypher, Apoc, Mouse, Switch, the Oracle and the respective world and ideas discussed in the movies and sequels of The Matrix are property of their respective owners. The ideas and storyline within this story are my own property.  
  
All else is within a shade of grey. 


End file.
